Expert shares the signs to look out for that you should no longer be friends with someone

Friends are a funny old thing - we can't live with them and we can't live without them.

Our pals are the people we turn to when we need some advice, a shoulder to cry on, or just a good old chinwag about how our week has been...but as well all know, some of our platonic relationships have an expiration date.

Poet Brian A. Drew Chalker put it best when he said that people come into our lives for 'a reason, a season, or a lifetime', but he didn't exactly touch on how the difficult part about it is weeding out the dead weight.

A lot of us cling even tighter to our ailing alliances when we've known them for donkeys years, but according to this expert, this isn't actually a good enough reason for keeping someone who isn't a great pal around.

World-renowned inspirational speaker Simon Sinek, 50, revealed all of the signs you need to look out for which indicate you may have outgrown a friendship while explaining how cutting your longtime sidekick off can benefit you massively.

During an appearance on Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast, the Wimbledon-born author broke down how the 'bond of time' doesn't make your companionship unbreakable.

He admitted that he had looked at his own life and realised that he had a few old friends who he only kept in touch with due to the amount of time they have known each other - but in actual fact, he doesn't 'get anything from them'.

Simon explained: "We don't feel inspired when we leave spending time with them. You say, Why are you still friends with them?' They're like, 'Well, I've been friends with them for 20 years!'

"Okay...that's not my question," he continued. "Why are you still friends with somebody that, they give you no joy, give you no inspiration...you might have fun, but why are you still friends with them? They don't charge your batteries at all.

"Is it a friend, simply because you've known somebody for a long time? That's a question."

It's certainly a thought-provoking query we can all ask ourselves.

Simon went on to say that although its natural for you and your lifelong pals to change after 'growing up' and leaving school, you don't have to continue a relationship with someone simply because you shared a lot of experiences together.

He continued: "I want to grow with people. I remember I had one friend - we started our careers at similar times, we're both entrepreneurs and we go out together and we whine about the same things, you know...'Screw that client, that client doesn't get it', blah, blah, blah.

"And every problem that I kept encountering, I tried to find solutions and my career started to advance. And we would continue to go out to dinner, and he would complain about the same people and the same problems. Years went by!"

The motivational speaker said that he had the 'same conversation every single year' with his friend, who always moaned about the 'same people, same problems' and had all of the 'same complaints'.

Simon told the podcast host: "I realised I could no longer relate to his life - there was no movement and we just drifted apart. There's no bad blood, we didn't have a fight...we just drifted apart.

"Is that okay? Yeah, I don't feel any guilt, that's fine. But I want him to make friends that help him grow. I want him to be able to not be the victim of his circumstances."

So, if you can't relate your current friendship dilemma to Simon's real-life experience, how can you tell that it is time to cut off your best mate from childhood?

According to the former marketing consultant, if they don't tick these boxes, it might be time to say goodbye.

Simon added: "A friend is someone that when you spend time with them, when you leave them, whether you're in a good place or a bad place, you leave them energised.

"Whether you're in a good place or a bad place, you leave them feeling not alone. Whether you're in a good place or a bad place, you feel loved and supported and cared for and seen.

"Whether you're in a good place or a bad place, they charge you to want to grow."