Speaking as someone who has been historically afraid to invite people, it's so true. People want to be led. That doesn't necessarily mean starting a non-profit

Speaking as someone who has been historically afraid to invite people, it's so true. People want to be led. That doesn't necessarily mean starting a non-profit but something like getting people together for a dinner or a happy hour or an art crawl. Planning dinner parties. I've actually started doing this. I find that it seems to be a lot harder to plan/execute/have a small (8-10 person) dinner engagement than it is to send out a broad invite to almost everyone you know for a 30 person party - expectations of the host/guests? I don't know why (yet). The key for a dinner party is to not to try for a weekend night but a weekday night (e.g. Tuesday or Wednesday) - easier to compete against other events on those days than weekend events (which are usually more important/reserved slots). Having non-shows annoy me (but life happens). Always try to invite some couples - that maximizes the invite/halves the required outreach. I used to consider myself a fairly shy person but the thing is I have run into people at other friends's events who I already know (and my friends are like - you know them already?) Which makes me realize - that I am not as shy as I claim to be. Actions speak more than your beliefs? I like to try to run in many circles (albeit loosely connected). I have not yet managed to bring disparate social circles together on a regular basis (outside of a big party) but that is my goal. I have had at least two instances of people meeting and dating - so by that metric - I have succeeded. As I heard once, it is very hard to be the global maximum (e.g. POTUS). Harder to be the regional maximum. But at your own party, at your own event, by definition - you are the local maximum. The host, the one who brought everyone together. That counts for a lot. Good luck and just get it going. Don't wait for your dinner party/bar crawl to be perfect. All you need is two people with you to not feel like a social pariah. Because you are not one.