Man is Traveling the Country in Search of 10k Friends

The average person has a circle of friends sizing about 10 people. This guy is working to shatter that average, a thousand times over.

Rob Lawless is traveling the country to make 10,000 new friends, which you can follow on his Instagram. He's very close to 3,000 friends that he's made. He spends an hour with each person, and sits and talks with them with no prewritten questions.

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2992. “I became immediately convinced that life was meant to be lived in a big city.” When Jason Phillips was pursuing his Communications degree at @floridastateuniversity, he spent his final semester of college studying abroad in London. Originally from Pensacola, FL, he became instantaneously enamored with how quickly the culture of London changed depending on which block of the city he was in. He therefore made it a point to live in a big city after college and ended up moving to Atlanta to work for @macys. After 2.5 years there, Jason was then relocated up here to NYC when the Atlanta office closed. Once here, he continued to work for Macy’s, but eventually diversified his career by working for @esteelauder and running his own interior design business. About 11 years ago, though, Jason rejoined Macy’s and after 3 years with them, became the manager of his own team of people. At that point, he felt a contentment with his career, which eventually carried over into his personal life when he purchased his first home in Bearsville, NY. A lover of nature and landscaping, he transformed his home throughout 2016 into a space that felt like his own, and one which he now visits 2-3 weekends each month. While there, he loves hosting family members like his sister and his nephew; however, most of the time, he enjoys hiking through the 8 acres of surrounding forest with his 10-year old dog, Scout! So nice to meet you, @jasonphillipsnyc! #10kfriends #nyc #bryantpark #fsu #cityliving #pensacola #macys #interiordesign #bearsville #forest #family #hiking #scout #meetingpeople • How we met: Jason came across my project via my @cbsnewyork story and then DM’ed me to meet!
A post shared by 🌎 Rob Lawless (@robs10kfriends) on Nov 5, 2019 at 4:51pm PST

Rob started the project on the side as a fun thing to do, but when he was laid off decided to go full time. He's now traveling fully sponsored, doing about 4 meetings a day. If you're in NYC and want to meet him, you can send him a message on Instagram.