We have all sorts of friends in our life; smart friends, (less) smart friends, drinking friends, conversation friends, successful friends and under achieving friends. The people we decide to form a relationship with have a SIGNIFICANT role in how we think and the person we become. While I love to hang out with my drinking friends as much as the next guy you must be aware that we, as humans, are highly SUCEPTIBLE TO INFLUENCE. Have you ever caught yourself using a phrase one of your good friends use? Ever noticed you imitating one of their mannerisms? These are examples of ways that our friends effect our subconscious. While these particular examples may be trivial we can also pick up BAD HABITSand PHILOSOPHIES from some of our (more negative or under achieving) friends. It is crucial that you, AN ASPIRING SUCCESSFUL PERSON, are aware of the power of influence and are able to place yourself in positions to acquire more positive traits than negative; one of the best way to do this is to surround yourself with POSITIVE and SUCCESSFUL people.
YOU ARE THE AVERAGE OF THE 5 PEOPLE YOU SPEND THE MOST TIME WITH
Whether you are a proud INTROVERT or born EXTROVERT we, as a species, are inherently SOCIAL in nature. We (generally) live in family like groups, in populated areas, and tend to associate with and group together with individuals that share a COMMON VIEW POINT ON LIFE (or an aspect of it). All of your friends (in some way) think as you do and on that point of commonality we BOND and RELATE to each other. It is important to understand this when we think of our SOCIAL INTERACTIONS, the POWER OF INFLUENCEand our PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT. If you only hangout with your “GO TO THE CLUB FRIENDS” chances are you most likely will partake in conversation and participate in events that center around…well…GOING TO THE CLUB. That is not to say that GOING TO THE CLUBis a bad thing; however, you must accept the fact that if you spend a significant amount of time going to the club your chances of economic/professional improvement diminish. YOU need to first pick the person you want to become and then increase the amount of time you spend with those friends that reinforce your end goal.
SOME FRIENDS CAN PREVENT SUCCESS
This is definitely a hard thing to admit but everyone who is serious about achieving their dreams knows (at least) one friend that does not share your requirement for excellence. Let face it, some friends are just HUGE DOWNERS and tend to DRAG YOU DOWN with them. This person can be a CHILDHOOD FRIEND, it could be your COUSIN, your BOYFRIEND or anyone else in the world. While I admire your COMMITMENT and LOYALTY to that friendship at some point you will have to level with the person. You need to communicate to them that you have big AMBITIONS and their negativity is effecting your ability to obtain your GOALS. If the person is unwilling to respect your wishes and refused to change the way they interact with you may want to think about limiting the amount of time you interact with them. At the end of the day, if you must choose between your dreams and a negative person, you need to look out for YOURSELF.
THINK WELL. ACHIEVE MORE. LIVE BETTER.