“If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.” – Proverb
If success is what you really want, then ask these questions to yourself:
Who are the people you are surrounding yourself with?
Are they helping you achieving your life goals?
The reason why these questions are essential is because the chances would be, you will enjoy the same kind of success like them, in key areas of your life.
For example, if income is your big goal for the coming year, it may surprise you that research has shown that if you take the average salary of the five people you spend most of the time with, you will come close to your current income. This is because we adopt the thoughts and beliefs that the people around us share with us.
Think about it: If you have people around you, who truly believe in what you do, support and encourage you to think big, and chase your biggest dreams, will that make a difference?
Base on a study with teachers and their students, that was tested.
Teachers were told that all their students went through IQ tests, and received a (false and randomly selected) list of the most gifted ones in their class. What do you think would happened?
The Pygmalion Effect
Those students ended up doing the best in their classes. Based solely the beliefs of their teachers, they felt inspired to outperform everyone else. And strives hard to do more than their best.
Of course influence works both ways: If the people around you keep putting you down, and discourage you from doing what you believe you can, this will impact your life tremendously. In fact, you will probably stop taking chances, and avoid risking failures, which is a true recipe to playing it small. After all, we all need our support system of friends, family and cheerleaders.
With this in mind, do you think you are showing belief in your friends and loved ones? Do you think you are helping them make the most out of their lives?
Or have you been pulling them down the tree of success, without even noticing it. I know I catch myself doing this, which is why I have committed myself to seeing the best in people, and encouraging them to take on challenges.
I do this not only because I know it is the right thing to do, but because I am convinced that my behavior will inspire those around me to do the same to their friends, and of course also towards me. My attitude can come back to me, like a boomerang, helping me be surrounded by a group of people that encourage me to think and play big. 😉
Now it’s time for you to ask yourself and reflect if you have been helping the people around you most especially those closest to you achieving their goal as well.
I would love to hear your thoughts by writing it in the comment section below. And don’t forget to SHARE this amazing study with your friends and family so they can also make a difference to someone else life!
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