The Company You Keep

“You are what you eat” , ” You are what you wear”… But what about who you know? Every man has their reserved set of cultural values, opinions, expressions and emotions, but it is a fact that your social life is a reflection of the company you keep.

What is the measure of a person? Are we based solely on our accomplishments? Or do the bonds and relationships we form play a part in who we ultimately become? I gravitate toward the latter, which states that you are what/who you surround yourself with. Your friends, colleagues, and significant others all play a part in how we carry ourselves as well as how we are perceived by the world at large.

You are what you surround yourself with… The mantra couldn’t be any more simple.  It revolves around everything: the quality of life, the way you articulate yourself, the way you dress, even the women you prefer to surround yourself with. It is all a direct reflection of the company you keep.

One of the largest influences in a person’s life are their closest friends, the core group of people with whom you choose to spend your free time. The group of people that allow you to let your guard down and turn all defenses off. These are the people that subconsciously affect our ambition and motivation as we journey through life.

If your friends are all driven, ambitious and creative individuals, then that rubs off on you and gets your imagination working in new and wonderful ways you may have never thought possible, unless you’re a “Hater”(and we, the Elite, do not participate in such behavior) watching those around you grow.

The hate succeeds at inspiring personal growth and it reinforces our desire to achieve our goals. Show me any individual’s best friends and the dynamic between them, and you’ll be able to easily understand who they are.

For one, you will always be judged by the company that you keep. You may personally not think that any of their characteristics affect you and the kind of person you are but you are wrong. You can try to fight it, but naturally, people’s personalities will rub off on you.

The five people that you spend most of your time with will dictate how far your life and career will go     -Will Smith

If motivationally driven people are the kind of people that you want to surround yourself with, then in turn, you will become motivationally driven. Don’t surround yourself with people that are at a standstill. It’s much easier to move forward as a group than to try to make it in America on your own.

However, if you are not granted the opportunity to be surrounded by this kind of positivity, then its time for you to step your life up. There are no excuses in 2012, get over it.

Leaders are not chosen, they are created. Take it upon yourself to grab those five people and start making history. Remember, you weren’t born Elite.