The people you choose to associate with are one of the most important factors or influencers, which will determine how your life and business will turn out in the future. These influencers will get to determine whether you stick to your daily commitments to take action towards achieving your goals or whether you remain permanently derailed and never apply yourself to achieve anything meaningful in your life or business. If you continue to choose a negative reference group to surround yourself with, you are condemning yourself to failure and lifelong underachievement

The People Around you Influence you

Research has shown that your reference group or the people that exert the most significant influence on your life, seem to be more important than any other factor in determining your level of personal or business success or failure. The most important thing to remember when exploring all your associations is that the influence they exert on you is very subtle. They do not apply huge pressure and force you in any specific direction. They gradually and gently nudge you off course over time. If these influencers have a negative effect on you, they will gradually nudge you to change your attitude, philosophy, self-discipline and your commitment to take daily action will gradually over time erode. The negative changes will be so subtle that you will not even notice them.

The people you surround yourself with, will affect all areas of your life:

Your health will be a reflection of the combined average health enjoyed by those influencers.
Your finances will also be the average of the people you choose to bring into your inner circle.
The quality of the relationships you will enjoy can only ever mirror the relationships of the people that surround you.
The attitude and philosophy you project to the world will be the combined attitude and philosophy of the people you hang around with the most.
Don’t you think that something as important as the people you choose to surround your with, which will ultimately determine how your life and business turn out in the future, deserves some special attention.

Action Idea: List the five people you spend the most time around. Then add up the numbers, relating to their health, quality of their relationships, finances, career, spiritual beliefs and contribution to society and see if these people are contributing to the future you desire or whether they are pulling you away from the success you desire.

Finances

First let us explore the finances of the people you surround yourself with the most. To simplify the exercise I have chosen two numbers, namely their level of income and their debt or asset value. You want to ensure that the numbers of the people you surround yourself with, are aligned with your picture of what you want to invite into your future or at worst that they are on a similar success journey to your own..

If the people around you have an average income level, which is way below where you want your income level to be, or they are constantly in a debt spiral. Then these people are holding you back from creating the future you desire. These people are standing between you and what you want to achieve. Have the courage to take action to change this situation or you will remain trapped in mediocrity.

Finances

Name Income Debt/Asset Value

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

Total ——————- ————————–

Average ——————- ————————–

On the health front I once again chose two very simple measurement criteria. How many time /week do they exercise and are they in shape or overweight.

Health

Name Exercise/week In Shape/Overweight

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

Total ——————- ————————–

Average ——————- ————————–

Attitude and Philosophy

Measuring attitude, philosophy is more difficult. I therefore want you to examine the people around you and subjectively assess these. Draw up a similar chart as above and see if these are aligned with where you want your life to go.

What Now?

After carrying out the above exercise, you will have a far better idea of the quality of people you surround yourself with on a regular basis and whether they are the right people to support you on your success journey. The challenge now is for you to make a few tough decisions regarding these associations. If you are committed to reach, stretch and do things, which you have never done before. If you are committed to break free from your current life and create the life of a super achiever. You will need to reappraise and re-prioritize the people you choose to surround yourself with.

Make a Few Tough Decisions

Choose your inner circle very carefully, because the people you, choose to surround yourself with; will most certainly affect your life. They will either nurture you, or keep you trapped in an un-fulfilling life of mediocrity Have the courage to use the information you have gathered and to remove the people from your life, who are holding you back.

Your success and level of achievement, depends on you cutting the losers loose and striving to only including people, who contribute to your on-going and sustainable success in your life and business. The more time you invest with people that reflect the type of success you desire, the sooner you will begin moving down the path of super achievement.

Author's Bio: 

Hi my name is Andrew Horton; I am an inspirational Speaker, Master Teacher, Radio and TV Host, Global Traveler and Author. My area of focus is in the field of human behavior, expanded awareness and enlightenment. I travel the planet constantly researching, learning and seeking ways to unlock the mysteries of the human mind. I delve into the inner workings of the universe, always looking for ways to understand my role in making things better and contributing to the improvement of the human experience. Please visit my website to sign up for a daily inspirational message by following this link Daily Inspirational Message. This is your daily call to action, a reminder to do things better each day. Visit my website at http://www.andrewhorton.co.za