How to change your life: Your friends.

How many times have you heard this? “You are who your friends are.” Since you've heard this over and over for years, you've carefully considered it through life. You've chosen a life full of positivity and have hand picked your inner-circle, right?

Go ahead, take a look around – you spend a lot of time with people that set and achieve their goals. Your friends come up with great ideas, and actually go about the business of executing them. They seem to be able to do so much with their time, way more than you perceive you have available. They have healthy financial lives, and don't buy a bunch of crap they can't afford to impress people they don't know. Best of all, their personal relationships are stellar, and they have a truly great marriage and kids.

It's a perfect description of your friends, right? If not, maybe it's time to reconsider a few things. Make a list of the people you consider to be good friends and family – the people you spend most of your time with. For each friend, determine what positive impacts they have on your life, and likewise the negative impacts. Start with your closest friends, then move to casual acquaintances. Be sure to note how much time they spend talking about their lives. Do they complain a lot? Do they talk about other people? Where are they going in life? Are they doing something meaningful to you?

This isn't a hit list of course, it's just a simple way to determine where your influences are. If you're spending time with people that aren't providing positive guidance and personal inspiration, you'll be exactly where you are now (or possibly worse off) in 5 years. Personal growth requires challenge, learning, and positive influences.

It's easy to make changes – just pick people out of your current network that are doing the things you want to do. Seek out those that are successful in the ways you want to be. Make a coffee date. Get to know them. Understand what makes them tick, and do that stuff.

Leaving negative influences behind can be difficult. After all, they're your friends, right? They're your people. The fact of the matter is that who you associate with is way more important than that. Your friends are who you are, and who you're going to be. Make every friend, and influence, count.

If you liked this or found a modicum value in it, please share it with your friends. Thanks! 🙂