It’s been said the you will become the average of the five people you associate with the most. This potentially impacts your health, activity, attitude, happiness, and income to name a few. Yet, how often do you “take inventory” of who these five people are for you? Probably a good idea to do it several times a year. It’s a really interesting philosophy that for me is best broken down into some of those categories for a more targeted impact. Of course, there are always going to be the five people who you associate with most overall, but it seems easier to identify the positive and negative by thinking about aspects separately. I suspect that in any area of your life that you are either happy or unhappy about, there are people influencing that both ways. If you want to move the needle one way or another, you have to either increase or decrease the amount of time you associate with those who help you do that. That could even mean ceasing to associate with some people altogether.
For instance, if you are not happy with your physical health, or fitness level, take some time to think about those around you that might be making it difficult for you to improve it. If this is something you really want to change, then it may be an association to more closely examine. Conversely if there is not someone, or not enough someones, in your life that pull you towards improving your health, then you must make a conscious effort to shift the balance. Don’t like your attitude or general happiness? Increase the amount of time you spend with happy people and decrease the time spent with those who aren’t positive. You can keep going down the list repeating this exercise, but the reality is you are being influenced no matter what. The difference is whether or not you are taking the control that you have over who you spend time with.
Being a business owner in a very specific industry, this thought process has critical implications on you. Do you seek out people, both internal and external of your organization, that make you better at some aspect of your business? Want to hire, market, or understand your numbers better? Attend a conference, listen to a webinar, subscribe to a podcast, join a mastermind group, or simply engage in a conversation. These are conscious ways you can gain positive traction towards being more successful and associating with people who can actually help you get there. It’s not always a completely comfortable process, but the resource is there somewhere for anything you want. It will not be enough though if for every positive association you make there are two negative ones. Examine both sides of the coin and be conscious of those who hurt your goals in some way. Otherwise, it will be a toss of that coin that determines everything. Not what I want my success determined by.