Week 64 - You don't have to like everyone 🤷‍♂️

Author

Yurii Lazaruk
May 31, 2026

Hey my friend, have you ever tried REALLY hard to build a connection with someone only to realize they weren't interested? 😲

Today, let's talk about why not every relationship is meant to happen, and why that's actually a good thing!

Try This Yourself

When we connect with someone, they invest something incredibly valuable into us: their time, attention, and energy.

And they expect something in return!

It might be:

  • some experience that will help them move forward,

  • potential connections they can make through you,

  • something they can buy from you that will improve their lives,

  • just good time spent with some nice emotions included,

  • you name it.

In that sense, they're kind of becoming our customers.

And have you heard the saying: “The customer is always right?”

Well, they lied! Each customer is a human, and people are different people.

You don’t really need to like each of your customers, and try to be someone you are not so they would like you in return.

Let's be honest: whenever we reach out to someone, we usually want something from them, like:

  • to sell them a product that will potentially improve their lives,

  • to get something from them that might improve your life,

  • to help them with something to look like a good person,

  • to connect them with someone, so they say “thank you” to you,

  • to spread love in the world (well, we all need it 😉).

And that's okay. I wrote about this in Week 38 (What The Hell Does He Want From Me?).

The problem isn't having an agenda. The problem is pretending you don't because people can feel hidden agendas from miles away 😅

Also, not everyone will follow your agenda. They might, if what they want overlaps with what you want, but it’s not guaranteed. And sometimes you need to let go.

I call this the Alignment Principle 🤓

Friendworking is not about convincing everyone. It's about finding people whose direction overlaps with yours.

Because some relationships require effort, others require alignment. And when you find alignment, the effort suddenly feels much lighter.

Actually, this reminds me of Week 52 (People Are Different, People). We often act as if everyone should think, communicate, and make decisions the same way we do. But they don't. And that's okay.

In fact, if everyone liked the same people, believed the same things, and wanted the same outcomes, life would be incredibly boring 😅

The challenge isn't getting everyone to agree with you or getting everyone to like you. The challenge is finding your people.

I mean, you don’t need to give up immediately. Here is how it works for me:

  • I connect with a person and ask them a question to identify if they’re interested in what I have to propose to them.

  • If I hear silence or a “no”, I try again from a different angle, maybe even trying to spark some emotions (sometimes I repeat this phase a few times).

  • If there is no answer, or a solid “no,” I let go, but not by burning all bridges, such as blocking a person or disconnecting, but letting them know if they will change their mind, I’ll be here.

The letting go part is the hardest. Sometimes it feels like a failure, like something is wrong with me. As if I didn’t do something right (and sometimes it might be the case 😏).

And if you've ever felt rejected, ignored, or ghosted, you're not alone. Because rejection is rarely logical. It's emotional.

Even when we know rationally that not every connection is meant to happen, it can still hurt.

But if I'm honest with myself—knowing what I know and what I don't know—sometimes it's not me. It's them. And that's okay.

tl;dr Not every connection is meant to happen. Friendworking isn't about convincing everyone to join your journey. It's about finding people whose path naturally overlaps with yours. Be honest, try a few times, and if the answer is still "no," let go with respect and move on.

Expand Your Mindset

I’ve recently met an amazing human, John Scherer, a leadership and organization development consultant, and here is a quote from his book “Facing the Tiger”:

“If you want to create any kind of fundamental difference in your life, the secret is not to try to become someone or something else (change), but to become more fully who you are (transformation).”

And honestly, this connects perfectly to the Alignment Principle. Because every time we try too hard to make someone like us, we slowly stop being ourselves.

The irony? The more we try to become someone else, the harder it becomes to find people who genuinely align with who we really are.

It also reminds me of the Mirror Principle from Week 63. When our online self, offline self, and inner self start drifting apart, trust becomes harder to build. But when they align, something magical happens: The right people start recognizing us faster! ✨

It also struck me hard because every time I feel like doing something wrong, I’m thinking about what I can change to make it right.

I feel like there is one universal path, and successful people know all the steps or just wing it.

But the secret is that there is no universal path. You and only you know what you want best, what makes you happy or sad, what makes you feel good or bad, and how to make it work the right (for you) way.

Someone else’s path is already taken by that person; only your path is vacant.

And yes, there is no guideline on how to become more fully who you are (if you have this, please share it with me). But the moment you start thinking about it and listening more closely to your heart and gut (not the social noise around), the closer you are to finding your way.

As Limp Bizkit put it:

“I'ma do things my way, it's my way, my way or the highway!”

tl;dr Transformation isn't becoming someone else. It's becoming more fully yourself.

Now I'm curious 🤓

Have you ever spent days, weeks, or even months trying to build a relationship, friendship, partnership, or business opportunity that simply wasn't meant to happen?

And looking back, are you happy it didn't?

Hit reply and tell me. I read every message 😉

💡 What influenced me this week 💡

Thoughts of the week:

  • “For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” -
    Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Economist’s daily quotes

  • “Quantity is a necessary precursor to quality. You cannot create once and hope for it to be perfect. You have to create a lot. Every single day.” - Sahil Bloom’s newsletter

  • “After a final decision, your mind goes to work on supporting your decision, surfacing positives on the chosen path and negatives on the rejected one.” - Sahil Bloom’s newsletter

  • “The hosts, guests, or other people on camera must genuinely enjoy each other’s company. Audience enjoyment and loyalty follow; audiences want to hang out, crave the parasocial.” - Creators Spotlight newsletter

Song of the week:

Book and quotes of the week:

“When public speaking, don’t think of yourself but of who you are talking to.”

“If it was a miracle, it was a miracle by design, in the sense that if you plan properly for some eventuality and make no compromises to the solutions to that possible eventuality, then you can build unprecedented levels of safety into any transport system.”

“We call this the spirit of Ubuntu, that profound African sense that we are human only through the humanity of other human beings.”

Tools that I use with referrals:

  • Descript - for anything around podcasting and video editing

  • Beehiiv - for a newsletter (that’s what you receive 😅)

  • Text Blaze - to access message templates with shortcuts (like “/ty”)

  • Exali - promo “FROMYURII” - indemnity insurance for independent experts in Europe

  • Manus - for building complex systems and projects

Daily actions:

  • tell 1 person what I’m thankful to them for

  • read a self-development book/listen to a professional podcast for 15 minutes

  • make a valuable post/comment on LinkedIn

  • tag 10 people in my connections database

  • connect with 30 interesting people on LinkedIn

Weekly actions:

If you have any thoughts, ideas, or questions, please 👇

And if you’d like to have more 👋 Friendworking in your life 👇

See you next week! 👋