1) Acting Cheap

Even in today’s modern times, chivalry is appreciated. While it’s true that you don’t want the sort of women who runs behind a fat wallet, we are drawn to men to can protect us and provide for us. This includes picking up the tab, at least the first few times (without whining about it). This does not mean that you have to blow your paycheck by taking her to the most expensive restaurant in town. Simply taking her out for a nice meal at a decent restaurant will send across the signal that you’re a man who knows how to take care of a woman. Boasting about how much you make but not dishing out the goods when needed? Major turnoff and we will rethink how much you actually like and respect us. Treat her for a meal the first few dates and by the third or fourth date, she herself will suggest splitting the bill or even offer to pick it up. Make her pay earlier on, she’ll rethink whether she wants to have a future with you.

2) Neediness

It does not matter to us if you look like the Ranbir Kapoor’s cousin if you don’t have attitude to go with it. Nothing screams desperate more than being clingy from day one. Being constantly needy and insecure will not make us special. Instead you will lose a few points in the respect column. Women are attracted to a man’s attitude and confidence. We want a man who can take care of us, not a scared little boy who needs reassuring every five minutes. If you want her to hang around, then give her some space of her own. Show her how strong and great you are even without her and see how she chases you.

3) Acting too nice

It’s a fact that women love compliments. However, we also know when we deserve them and when we don’t. Telling her she looks hot when she’s feeling a little low will earn you brownie points but showering her with compliments non-stop will have the opposite effect. She’ll think you’re being insincere and fake. Act like a man and make her work for her compliments. Women love challenges just as much as men do! Plus, we both know you won’t be able to keep the façade forever, so just tone it down a bit and show her the real you. Agreeing with everything a woman says and does is also a big no-no. This does not make us like you more. Rather you come off as having no opinion or spine. Even though it may not seem like a good idea at the time, standing up for your beliefs and opinions will earn her respect in the long run.

4) Coming on too strong

There is a difference between letting her know that you’re interested and tell her how your life has changed since you met her. While it may feel great to dive into a new relationship headfirst, getting too caught up in a new relationship is unhealthy. A woman will lose interest in you if you show her how besotted with her you are in the first few weeks. Instead, make her work for it. If she can get all your affection and time easily, she won’t be satisfied with it. Ease yourself into the relationship gradually instead of showing too much interest earlier on.

They say that friends are the new family or even the family that God let us choose for ourselves. Every friend brings something new into your life and helps in making you a better person. When it comes to friendship, the saying “quality over quantity” is truly apt. There are atleast 5 types of friends every woman should have to have fulfilling friendships that last throughout life.

Consider yourself very fortunate if you have even one of these ladies in your life.

1) The Travel Companion:

This is your go-to girl when the travel bug has caught up with you. This friend is adventurous, enjoys experiencing new things and cultures. She’s up for pretty much anything from a trip to Paris to backpacking through America. Moreover, she has the most important characteristic needed on such trips : flexibility so that if things go quite as planned, she doesn’t get frazzled and is ok with resorting to Plan B. You should be comfortable enough with her to have long personal talks and indulge in a little bit of mischief.

2) The Truth Teller:

If you ever want a frank answer, then this is the woman you need to pay a visit to. She can see both sides of a situation clearly and values honesty. She tells it like it is without sugar coating it. The thing to remember here is that even if she seems brutally honest sometimes, it’s always out of love as she has your best interests at heart. She’s the girl who’ll tell you if you’re too overdressed for that date or have something stuck in your teeth before a meeting.

3) The Entertainment Package:

This girl just wants to have fun and is always up for having a good time. Even if you’ve had a bad day, she’ll be sure to put a smile back on your face within just a few minutes. She finds humor and adventure even in the smallest things. Her love and enthusiasm for life is infectious. With her, it’s all about spontaneous good times.

4) The Unconditional Supporter:

Feeling down in the dumps? Then a little chat with this girl is all you need. She’s perfect for a heart-to-heart as she listens to your problems and is positive through the good times and the bad. She’ll be the first one to support your decision of leaving your 6 figure salary and going back to school. She has a very positive and motivated approach towards life. She will stick by you through thick and thin. Even if she disagrees with you, she will never judge. She makes you feel like everything is going to be alright.

5) The Unlikely Friend:

Every woman needs one of these. They open a new world for you and introduce you to new cultures and new perspectives on life. They may be double or half your age, from different cultures or socioeconomic backgrounds or even from a different hemisphere of the globe. They enrich your life in a way that only variety can do.

If you can think of more then add them in the comments section below!

So one must know them and the best of them!

Friendships: If there is any area in life where you should choose wisely, it would be your friendships. Numerous studies have shown that you become a byproduct of the people you surround yourself with. If you surround yourself with losers, then you’re well on your way to becoming one.  If you surround yourself with winners, then you’re on your way to becoming one. Another thing that you want to do is chose friends who reinforce your positive self image. There’s a big difference between friends who joke about you endearingly versus those who seem to get their rocks off by putting you down. If you have some toxic friends, it’s time to detox!

Careers: Making the choice between passion and practicality is something you really should take seriously in your career. I didn’t do it in my younger years and as a result my life was miserable in numerous ways. My health deteriorated, I was depressed, and I was always angry or anxiety ridden. A career takes up a significant part of your life, up to 65% of your day in many cases. If you hate what you do, then think about what kind of things you are going to attract into your life. The majority of your time, energy, and thoughts are being directed to your misery. It’s a simple application of the law of attraction at work.

Relationships: Your choice in relationships not only alters the quality of your life, but the quality of someone else’s. So, if you make a bad choice you run the risk of making two people’s lives miserable. Of course the opposite is true as well. If you make the right choice then you double the joy that goes out into the world and bring more of it back to you. Have you ever noticed how at the beginning of a relationship when you start dating somebody, everything seems too be perfect. You have a great time together and everything goes smoothly and you seem to be on a roll of attracting positive experiences into your life. Then, you stop getting along, and everything else goes to hell too. So, make sure you choose wisely.

Reactions: This is the most overlooked choice that one has! It has been said over and over that life is not about what happens to you, but how you react to what happens to you. Once we learn how to control our reactions to everything that happens we manage to achieve complete control over our lives. We are no longer impacted by circumstances and events because we are choosing our reactions.

A good friend is a connection to life – a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. - Lois Wys

Few people would dispute the benefits of friendship. Friendship cannot be created once. It must be created over and over again. People and priorities change. What worked yesterday may not work today. We must nurture our friendships so they may flourish with us through our changing lives, and that’s where this guide comes in. The problem seems to be how to fit our friends into an already overcrowded life.

Choose friends wisely. Focus your energy on people who make you feel good.
We all know the saying, “you can’t choose your family”. So, make sure you’re smart and choose friends who are worthy of your valuable time and attention. It sounds harsh, but you cannot keep every friend you have ever made. No one has the time and energy for that. If you don’t consciously choose which relationships to focus on, you’ll spread yourself too thin and you’ll have less to give to those who deserve it most.

Do not be fooled by glamour and street cred. A person’s behavior is much more important than their words or how they represent themselves. Surround yourself with people who reflect the person you want to be. Choose friends you are proud to know, people you admire, who love and respect you. People who make your day a little sunnier, simply by being in it.

Make time. Prioritize Relationships.
If you have to really think about the last time you were in contact with a friend, then it was too long ago. Life can run at a crazy pace. We may think of people, then something comes up and we never call them. The month ends, another comes along, and again that call is never made. This is how relationships peter out. It starts to feel easier to walk away than struggle back through the neglect.

Don’t fall into the habit of thinking I’ll “try and find the time”. It’s a cop-out. You cannot find time. You make time. Every day you decide where to put your attention, and those activities will in turn create your day, your week and eventually your life. Be mindful of where you focus your time and energy. Does this match your values and how you want your life to be? There’s no use saying “my family and friends are the most important thing” if you work 80 hours a week and never see them. Be conscious of how you spend your time and choose to prioritize the people in your life.

The easiest way to make time for friends is to organize future gatherings while you are all together. Make time for that first meeting, and then work out the timing of the next one. That way you’ll manage to regularly see each other and there is less stress all round. The reality is most of our relationships need work. Make the time to send an email or give a quick phone call to show your friends they matter. Otherwise how will they know?

Treat others how you want to be treated.
This is one of the first lessons my mother taught me, and it is probably the most important. You may have heard of the law of attraction, which states that what we project to the world will be sent right back to us. This means you must decide what qualities are important to you, because you cannot receive what you do not give.

Personally, I don’t think you can go past honesty, loyalty and integrity as a foundation for choosing friends. Be considerate. Don’t make plans you won’t keep. Be a safe haven for your friends, someone they can rely on. What qualities rank highly for you? Do you just want some laughs every now and then, or people who will be there for you when life throws you a curve ball?

Have fun. Share rituals. Laugh Often.
Any long term relationship, friendships included, can fall into a rut. Take the time to have fun, maybe do the activities you loved when you were young. If life isn’t fun, then what’s the point? Misery shared is still… well, misery. Focus on joy and laughter and your friendships will stay a positive presence in your life.

Hold onto rituals. They connect you with your friends and your youth. Shared memories help define our life and how we see ourselves. Don’t throw them away just because they’re getting harder to manage. The key is to negotiate. Maybe you used to have weekly poker games, but now you have three kids, so what do you do? Have the poker games once a month, and let your partner also have a night out to re-connect with their friends. You’ll both benefit.

Accept people the way they are. Suspend judgment.
Some people are good with phone calls, others are not. Some people always know the right thing to say, others seem to have a knack for getting it all wrong. The key with managing friendships and reducing conflict is to accept people the way they are. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. Fighting your friends’ natural personality is a losing battle. We cannot control other people, and frankly, we have no right to try. The sooner we accept this, the easier all our relationships become.

Respect boundaries.
Don’t criticize your friend’s partner, children, parenting style or family. This is always a no, no. We may all like to rant about our loved ones, but we do not want to hear anyone else do it. This is a golden rule. Stencil it on your forehead if you must.

There will be disagreements. Stay calm. Don’t make mountains out of molehills.
Drama is a part of life, but we don’t have to wallow in it. Things happen, ugly words can be exchanged. This is the nature of human relationships. Before you react to a hurtful situation with a friend, always stop and breathe. Try not to react in anger. Express your feelings honestly, but calmly. I’m not saying that it’s easy, but it is the best way to minimize conflict and angst in life. And bottling up feelings doesn’t help either. They just fester and we stay angry and are unable to move on.

Accept that friendships change and sometimes end.
Although I’ve had the majority of my friendships since I was a teenager, there are times in life when people change enough as to have nothing in common anymore. Sometimes this is temporary, other times it’s not. Either way, the best thing you can do when a relationship falters is to let it go. That doesn’t mean immediately deciding not to see each other anymore. Letting go means choosing to see the friendship as it is now, and releasing the need for it to be something else. Relationships have an energy of their own. They can ebb and flow. Sometimes you’re not quite clicking, other times you are. Petering out friendships can be very stressful, but change is a part of life and relationships which do end can still be treasured for what they brought before. They don’t have to be a mistake. And every time a gap appears, life will usually move in to fill it. Maybe this will be in the form of a new friend, or a even better relationship with yourself. Keep an open mind and an open heart, and wait and see

Treat yourself with kindness and respect, and others will do the same.
This is probably the most important point. You cannot be a friend to others, if you are not a friend to yourself. Have you ever noticed that some people are taken advantage of by everyone. They attract users and frauds like honey. This is not a coincidence. If you want other people to treat you with respect, then you need to be the first person in line to respect yourself. Being a good friend does not mean being a doormat. The kinder you are to yourself the happier you will be. The happier you are, the more you have to give to others. It is one big merry-go-round of happiness. Join the ride.