You’ve probably heard the Jim Rohn quote before, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

How true is this statement? If it’s true, what areas of your life does it impact?

It is true, and it impacts every aspect of your life. Your level of wealth, your happiness, aspirations and goals, health and physical condition, relationships and attitudes. I could keep going.

Proximity is power! You become who you spend your time with.

We want our kids to hang out with good friends that will be positive influences on them. In Surround Yourself With Greatness, Chad Lewis says, “It is vital to surround ourselves with good friends as it is for a fish to live in water, especially in our teenage years. It is critically important to our lives, our future, our health, and our safety to be around positive influences, people who don’t tempt us but rather help us make good decisions. A friend who sees the good in us and encourages us to be our best self is worth more than his weight in pure gold.”

It’s no different in our adult lives. It is vital that we surround ourselves with the right people.

“He that walks with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”
PROVERBS 13:20

If the people you spend the most time with have a negative outlook on life, focus on the bad, are always blaming others for their difficulties and are generally just negative, how do you expect to be happy and have a positive approach to life?

Look at the people around you. Are they more successful than you? Are they doing and working towards the things that you want in your life? What direction are they going? Where are they going to be in twenty years? Is it the direction you want to be going? They are either pulling you up, or dragging you down. Which is it?

In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill said, “Every man is what he is, because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind… We are what we are, because of the vibrations of thought which we pick up and register, through the stimuli of our daily environment.”

The people around you can elevate you as much as they bring you down. I have a business partner that always has huge goals and aspirations and always has an incredibly positive attitude towards life and the future. Sometimes when I’m faced with difficulties and things just aren’t working out, I’ll go meet with him just for the pep talk. I know that just by spending time with him and talking with him I’ll leave with a positive attitude ready and excited to take on the world!

Who do you want to be? What goals do you have?

Are you getting closer to your goals or do you seem to keep running into obstacles that are holding you back?

Now, who are the five people that you currently spend the most time with? Do these people match who you want to be in the future?

Who are the top five people who embody the qualities you desire, or have done the things you are aspiring towards? How can you increase your contact with them?

You want those you spend time with to encourage and support you. You want them to help you achieve your dreams and goals. If you’re always the smartest, strongest, richest, whatever-est person in your group, you are in the wrong group. You need someone to motivate and inspire you to always get better. To make you think bigger and believe it is possible.

It’s amazing the impact people can have in your life through their example, encouragement and belief in you. Just be honest with yourself as you look around and recognize if your relationships are empowering you and helping you to get closer to achieving your dreams.