Because it was just Valentine’s Day I wanted to talk about the importance of your social circle. We have all heard the quote “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” I believe that this statement is true. Regardless of the exact number of people, five, seven, ten, the fact remains that your environment shapes your actions and behaviors and the people you surround yourself with make up a large part of your environment.
If you have big goals and dreams and you are serious about achieving them then you need to be around people who are going to encourage you, who push you to be better, who are either working to achieve their own dreams or maybe they have already made it.
We have structures in our brains called mirror neurons and this is how babies learn to speak just through watching and listening, or how you can watch someone perform a new skill and you can almost instantly do it too. These mirror neurons are always firing and you mimic the people around you.
Think about how when someone moves to a new city and they pick up the accent or start saying phrases that they never used to say. This is the power of these mirror neurons. They allow you to easily adapt to your environment by seeing what others do and say.
Now, I don’t want to give the impression that surrounding yourself with amazing people is easy. We are obviously born into a family that we didn’t choose, in a town or city we didn’t choose, and as we grow up we only had a limited number of people that we could connect with.
But if you visualize having this strong social circle of people who push you to be your best and only have your best in mind you will start to make it real. Let me give an example of how you can make this a reality. I’m sure many of you have gotten a new car at some point, and let’s say the car is red. Then as soon as you get your new car you notice how many other red cars there are. It’s not that there are suddenly more red cars. Your perception has simply changed. The lens that you view the world through has changed. And you can do the same with your social circle.
Over time if you have fully committed to building a tribe that brings out the best in you then you will start to notice ways to make it happen. You will pay more attention when you meet someone who seems like they would be a great fit and take that extra step to get together with them again. And on the flip side, you will notice when someone is bringing you down and doesn’t have the same level of goals as you. You don’t need to completely shun this person, but because you are the combination of the people you spend the most time with maybe you spend less time with them.
When you can surround yourself with people who are trying to achieve like you are then you can push each other, help each other, and together you can make your dreams and goals a reality.
Use this idea as a lens through which you view your world. Are the people you are surrounding yourself with helping you to achieve your goals or are they holding you back? Find those people who want the best for you. Build your tribe.
That’s what I am trying to do here with Catalyst Impacts. I am attracting those people who are making a positive impact in the world. That’s who I want to surround myself with. If that’s you great! Make sure you are following me, subscribing, and together we can really make our positive impact in the world!
Have a great day!
-Floyd
Catalyst Impacts 