Brain Picking Jordan Peterson

You need to surround yourself with people who want the best for you.

How can you tell that someone is your friend? Firstly, you can tell them bad news and they'll listen. They won't tell you why you're stupid, and why that bad thing happened to you, and how something worse happened to them once. They won’t derail the whole conversation.

Forget about trying not to be nervous, because you will be nervous. Pay more attention to other people, listen to them carefully and watch them because then your natural social abilities will kick in.

If you get nervous, what you must do is start paying more attention to the other person. You must force your attention outward and ask people questions. Listen to them and when they say something interesting or something you don't understand, ask them a question. People love that, because they know you're listening to them and people love being listened to.