How to find like-minded and ambitious people and avoid ranting buddies?

***People often say, "Show me your five close friends, and I’ll tell you your future." If that’s true, where do I even find such friends?*** I’m not someone who has achieved everything, and I wouldn’t call myself super mature either. But one thing I know for sure is that I don’t like complaining about every little thing and I can’t stand people who constantly complain or make excuses for everything. What I really want is to connect with like-minded ppl, not necessarily achievers, but ambitious ones who don’t just rant about life. The problem is, it usually takes me 2–3 months to figure someone out, and that’s a huge waste of time for me. If someone has the habit of ranting, I start getting irritated so easily that it feels like I’m unnecessarily wasting my time with this person. To make things worse, it becomes difficult to distance myself when I’ve already started treating them as a friend. So, dear Redditors, what are the first few things I can do to understand whether someone is like-minded or if they have what I like to call "Ranting Syndrome"? Would love to hear your thoughts!