It’s safe to say that most of us have friends, and not all friendships need to be beneficial past the point of enjoying each other’s company, but the people you surround yourself with can have a huge impact on your life, both personal and professional. This can be in a positive or negative way,  the key is realizing early on if this person will help lift you up and make you a better person or bring you down and cause stagnation.

Check out our list below for three types of friends you’re guaranteed to find in every successful person’s life. Can you say the same?

 

The sounding board

Everybody needs that friend who is great at listening. Whether it is to bounce business ideas back and forth with, or just to hear your complaints about practically anything, having someone who is just there for you can be a great relief, especially for those of us who overwork ourselves in business ventures and life.

 

The optimist

Life can beat you down, sometimes constantly it seems, and in those instances having a friend that can always see the positives in life can keep you from falling into that pit of despair that seems to just linger around at times. Whether it’s been a bad day, month, or year, that friend can be a welcome reprieve and keep you going in the right direction.

 

The opposite

Maybe not completely opposite, but having someone in your life that looks at life differently than you can be beneficial to the both of you. Having someone that looks at professional life differently than you can help you see faults in your business plan or idea and forces you to look at things from the opposite end of the spectrum. In doing so, it helps broaden your horizons and makes you a more well-rounded individual.

Friendships should never be forced, and you shouldn’t go out looking for friends with only self preservation and benefit in mind, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look at your current group of friends (or new people!) and think about what makes them special. And if there is one thing you should avoid in a friendship, negativity. It is one thing to look at things realistically, it’s another thing to have Negative Nancy or Pretentious Paul in your midst that can never see the positives and continually brings down the mood when around.