The people I want to be around

We are all products of our own environment.  We are who we are because of the associations and company we keep. Growing up your parent(s) may have said now “I don’t want you hanging out with, ________., they are bad news.”  I think we all knew what our parents meant by bad news.  These people would get us in trouble.  Back in those days, what was trouble?  Well, it was staying out too late, or in my case riding my bike in the “next” neighborhood” as we called it.  It was the neighborhood next to ours, and this is what we always called it.  So what was trouble then, is not the same as it is now.

As we get older our associations have much more influence and impact on us than we even know.  If you hang out with Negative Nancy all day at work, but you think you are a positive person, you are just crazy.  Matter of fact, the fact that you hang out with Negative Nancy, and everyone knows that Negative Nancy is Negative Nancy for a reason, you are automatically considered negative as well.  But it is not only the fact that Negative Nancy hurts your image and brand, but she also brings you down.  See, you can’t think forward when you are thinking backwards, duh, right?  So what is that association doing to you?

The law of limited association is where I am seeking to get better with who I am spending my time with.  I can’t spend major time with minor people. Minor meaning: They are great people, but if they don’t think the same way as I do, then it is what it is.  I must cut the amount of time, period.  There are some associations you need to spend more time with.  This is an area where I am seeking to get better.  I have to spend major time with major people.  Major in this case meaning, push me to places I wouldn’t go on my own.  Challenge me to be better.

Someone can always add value to you and your life, if you just take some time and listen and try to learn from them.  However, there comes a point where its time for you to be around people and associate with people who are looking forward to the future the same way you look forward to the future.

The people I want to be around:

• Seek growth over comfort
• Fix problems over ignoring them
• Focus on how we get better today and tomorrow instead of getting through the day
• Realize they haven’t arrived
• Have been there before and can tell me how they did it.
• Inspire me
• Bring something of significance to the table
• Tell me something I didn’t know
• We work together to design something of value and significance
• Work harder than I do. 
• Thinks BIG picture and BIG life over the challenges of the day. 
• The biggest problems we discuss are not WHAT, it is how! 

Last night, I had a great conversation and drinks with a very good friend and colleague of mine.  This person inspired me enough to write this blog today.  I think it sums it up on who I need to spend my time with.

Brian Willett