The Company You Keep – it will make or break you

Why does it matter? Because you are the average of the five people you spend most time with – in your income, your general emotional state, etc. So who do you keep company with and where do you want to be?

Pursuing the life of your dreams demands you pay a price. The obvious things are working extra hours when most people are chilling out in front of the TV; perhaps putting some hard earned cash into your business that means you miss out on a vacation. But the real price you pay is working on yourself, personal growth – to have more, you must become more. As you change on the inside, so what you need on the outside will change too.

Most folk get in a comfortable rut as young adults and not much changes as the years go by. You hang out with the same crowd; follow the same football team; go to the beach in summer; try to keep life comfortable as you get greyer; you know how it is.

Then you start working towards a life that most people only dream of and things get uncomfortable. Your friends think you’re crazy and they try to steal your dream. When they want to complain about life and their debts, you want to talk about how you are going to buy a second home. When they say the cup is half empty, you say it is half full.

The trouble is that this negative energy seeps into you and it will drag you down – make no mistake. As you change, you will have to make choices. Many of your old friends and maybe family members too will hold you back. They really don’t want to see you succeed because that confronts them. Most of them are living ‘lives of quiet desperation’.

Don’t get me wrong. There is no need to sweep all your old friends out of your life. Friends are a precious thing and your family are important too. But you do need to spend quality time with people who share your vision; who will encourage and reinforce the things you are working to achieve.

I have had to make hard choices in this way, especially over the last couple of years. I didn’t feel I was superior to some old friends and I still cared about them. But their company was not good for me and they certainly did not understand the direction I was going in. I even moved country because my situation was not going to change where I was. The thing is, finding the upbeat people to spend time with is not so easy. I have an international business and all but one team member lives outside the country where I am.

The good thing is that we live in an age with fantastic communications. The internet, webinars, telephone conference calls and videos can all connect us with the visionaries who will inspire us. I find following the videos that my mentors post on YouTube gives me great inspiration. I also get on as many team conference calls as I can. Try to get to your company convention, even if it stretches your finances.

Use these resources to insulate yourself against the stuff all around that will drag you down. You still have to live where you are, with your neighbours and work mates. But you must keep feeding your inner resolve. I’ve seen one friend in network marketing who talked a good talk; knew that the ’95%’ will drag you down but who still spent way too much time just gossiping and hanging out. After ten years of struggle her dream has died.

So the choice is yours. If you want to keep your dream alive, choose carefully those who are close to you. Your decisions may not make you popular but it is your life.

Please share your experience. Do you agree? I love to hear from you.

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Tagged as: Dreams, Family Members, Hard Choices, Lives Of Quiet Desperation, Negative Energy, Old Friends, Personal Growth, Quality Time