“Friendship isn’t a noun. It’s a frequency.” (2-3 minute read) Hey Reader, I went to a concert last week and had a small epiphany standing between a guy in a vintage tour tee and a woman who’d clearly been to 50+ shows. The band opened with a song everyone knew. And for about four minutes, 18,000 strangers became a community. Same words. Same rhythm. Same moment. Then the song ended, and we were all strangers again. But not completely. Something had shifted. It made me realize: friendship...
10 days ago • 2 min read
“You don’t need more friends. You need more collisions.” (2-3 minute read) Hey Reader, So this was fun. PopSugar ran a piece about my "doorbell friends" concept yesterday to their millions of followers. On to this week's topic:There used to be a way people met. You’d run into someone. Literally. At a party, at a bar, on the street, whatever. No plan. No buildup. No “what are we doing Saturday at 8:15.” Just… oh, this is fun. And then maybe you’d see them again. Or maybe you wouldn’t. But if...
17 days ago • 1 min read
“The most dangerous phrase in friendship is ‘they know how I feel.’”(2–3 minute read) Hey Reader, Last week I almost made a huge mistake. My buddy Mike, one of my closest friends for 15+ years, got a promotion. I saw it on LinkedIn. Liked it. Thought, “Nice, good for Mike.” And then I almost kept going. I was already onto the next thing. Emails, kids, whatever was in front of me. But I called him. Because I'm trying to practice what I preach. I've already had a lifetime of messaging people...
24 days ago • 2 min read
"The friends who know your Tuesday matter more than the ones who know your Saturday."(2–3 minute read) Hey Reader,Thanks for being here. The DMs and replies have been great lately—keep them coming. And if you’re not on my Instagram yet, I’m posting new friendship ideas there daily. Had a moment this week I can’t stop thinking about. It was like… peak Tuesday.Just a full day of errands, emails I was avoiding, and my kids dropping blueberries everywhere. Phone rings. It’s my buddy Jeremy. No...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
"The best part of the night happens after you want to leave."(2–3 minute read) Hey Reader,If you're not already following me on Instagram, it's where I experiment with these ideas in real time. I’m usually the first person ready to leave. That may surprise you because I like people. I’m very social. But I’ve got two kids under three, a business to run, and by 9 PM my brain is cooked. My wife and I have a running joke about who gives “the look” first at dinner. It’s me. It’s always me. But...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
"The friends who change your life rarely look like friends at first."(2–3 minute read) Hey Reader, Quick thing before we get into it: if you’re not already there, follow me on IG (@mattritter1). It’s where I test a lot of these ideas in real time. I ran into a guy at my son’s swim class last week. We’ve been circling each other for years. Four total sentences exchanged. All variations of:“How old’s yours?” or “This parking lot is brutal.” But this time, while our kids were in the pool, we...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
"Most people think loyalty means staying. It actually means choosing." (2-3 minute read) Hey Reader, There are now over 25,000 of you here each week. Which is… kind of wild. When I started this, I thought maybe my mom and a few college friends would read it. (My mom still texts me about my typos, by the way. Every. Single. Week.) This week’s idea crystalized in a conversation with my wife about whether loyalty is something you feel or something you do. If you've been following me on IG, you...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
If something never makes it onto the calendar, it slowly disappears from your life. Hey Reader, Another idea that really blew up my IG and that I'm going to cover in an upcoming newsletter. Something I'm calling "the Friendship Debt Trap." If you want a sneak preview, you can follow along on my IG here! One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older, and especially since having kids, is that your calendar quietly becomes the most powerful force in your life. Not in a philosophical way. In a very...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
"Friendship works better as a series than a standalone film." Hey Reader, Seems like the "doorbell friend" concept really resonated with people. In case you missed it, I post my daily observations on modern friendship over on Instagram — short, real-life stuff that doesn’t always make it into the newsletter. If you’re not already there, you can follow along here: 👉 https://instagram.com/mattritter1 Back to this week's idea. I work in Hollywood, where the mindset has completely shifted. Nobody...
2 months ago • 2 min read