3. Aim to be an outstanding friend to 3-5 people

Research shows that the vast majority (91%) of women in Britain say they prioritise quality over quantity when it comes to friendships, but you may still feel like you’ve failed if you don’t have a massive network. Rather than setting out to collect more friends, “a more empowering strategy” is to pick “three to five friends, and really strive to be an outstanding teammate to those people,” says Anna Goldfarb, the author of Modern Friendship: How To Nurture Our Most Valued Connections and the Substack newsletter Friendship Explained.

Goldfarb came across this approach to friendship while researching her book, and says putting it into practice has helped her build “the strongest friendships of my life”. “I know people are so focused on collecting more and more friends,” she says, “but they don’t know how to care for the ones they do get!”

Yes to errand dates, no to people-pleasing: 9 ways to strengthen your friendships