You’ve probably heard the advice of entrepreneur Jim Rohn before: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
Well, when you’re trying to figure out who to let into your inner circle of close friends and common associates, how do you know who should make the cut?
In this post, we’ll look at the 5 types of people to surround yourself with: the motivated, the passionate, the inspired, the open-minded, and the grateful.
Let’s see how each can help you grow into the success story that you dream to be.
Why Does The Company You Keep Matter?
You don’t have to work your brain too hard to understand why Rohn’s quote makes such intuitive sense. Humans are like sponges. We soak up the energy of the people we associate with.
To illustrate, imagine 2 different entrepreneurs. They are both in their early 20s and have dreams of retiring before they hit 40. But their common associates are very different.
Entrepreneur #1…
- Has a best friend who is constantly telling him that he’s wasting his time trying to build a business and should just get a real job.
- Lives with 2 roommates who work dead-end jobs, spending most of their free time playing video games and bingeing Netflix.
- Regularly hangs out with his siblings who still don’t understand what it is he does for a living.
Entrepreneur #2…
- Has partnered with her best friend to launch a SaaS company.
- Spends most of her time at a co-working space that attracts a lot of local entrepreneurs.
- Meets weekly for coffee with her father, who also started his own business.
Now neither of these entrepreneur’s situations necessarily spell doom or success.
But, you can see that #2 is going to have more support and less temptation simply by virtue of the fact that she keeps company with people who can understand and empathize with her.
5 Types of People To Surround Yourself With
So if you want to be successful, then hang out with successful people.
But what do they look like? Successful people are motivated, passionate, inspired, open-minded, and full of gratitude. So those are exactly the 5 types of people to surround yourself with.
Here’s why…
The Motivated
For some people, motivation just comes easy. For the rest of us, we’ve got to work hard to get ourselves pumped up and stay on task.
Motivated people are always getting more done. If they go idle, it’s probably just to recharge their batteries with some well-deserved R&R. It’s NOT because they’re lazy, procrastinating, or unfocused.
If you find that your motivation ebbs and flows like the tides, then you want to make sure that your companions include a few of the motivated. They will pick you up when you’re down and push you forward when you’re running on fumes.
And eventually, that natural intrinsic motivation will seep into your very being. You’re a sponge, remember? So start soaking up the good vibes.
The Passionate
Passion is your driving purpose. A passionate person lives every second of their life to the fullest. They throw themselves into their work because they know that’s their best way to have the biggest impact on the world.
If you’ve ever been lost in a flow state, you’ve had a taste of passion. The ability to be so engaged in what you’re doing that time just seems to slow down. Well, for some people, getting into that state just comes naturally.
When you surround yourself with the passionate, then there will always be someone in your life pushing you to find a higher purpose in everything you do.
The Inspired
Inspiration often gets confused with motivation, but the two are distinctly different. And some people can easily manifest one but not the other.
Someone who is easily inspired goes through life with a spark of curiosity. They always have new angles to approach a problem, new ideas to bring to life, or new innovations to explore. Motivated people, on the other hand, have the drive to direct that inspiration into action.
Surrounding yourself with the inspired style=”font-weight: 400;”> is important because they will always be there to water your curiosity when it starts to grow stagnant. They’ll be a constant source of innovation, and an ideal springboard to bounce new ideas off of.
The Open-Minded
Successful entrepreneurs know how to stretch outside of their comfort zone. After all, the status quo is not to do your own thing and forge your own path to success. Most people’s comfort zone (when it comes to making a living) is a 9 to 5 steady job with adequate pay, decent benefits, and a comfortable retirement at 65.
But entrepreneurs aren’t most people. And the open-minded know how to push the limits of their comfort zone. Whether it’s the places they travel to, the foods they eat, or the risks they’re willing to take in business, open-minded people are always open to new opportunities.
You want to include open-minded companions in your journey to success so that you don’t get stuck in a rut. They’ll be there to suggest a new path when you can’t even see that you’re headed in the wrong direction. And because they have so many different experiences under their own belt, you’ll have a constant source of new ideas to inspire you.
The Grateful
As an entrepreneur, you are probably always thinking of your next big acquisition: winning a new corporate client, opening another location, launching a new product, adding another figure to your revenue.
But it’s just as important to take time to slow down and express gratitude for all of the things you already have. And that’s exactly what grateful people have a knack for. They possess the uncanny ability to always see the glass as half full. They recognize the people, possessions, opportunities, and experiences that have shaped their life for the better.
It’s not that they are naively optimistic. It’s just that expressing gratitude for the positives is much more fulfilling and productive than wallowing in the negatives. When you surround yourself with the grateful, you’ll always have someone in your life who can help you see the bright side of even the toughest trials.
Time to Be a Sponge
Now you know the five types of people to surround yourself with. The next step is finding them and working them into a larger and larger part of your life. As you do, you’ll learn exactly what we mean when we say human beings are like sponges.
It won’t be long until you are the motivated, the passionate, the inspired, the open-minded, and the grateful.
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