Grow Through Who You Know Pt. 2

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Summary

Things for you to think about when choosing the people that you surround yourself with.  Choose wisely the people that are your biggest influencers as well as those people that support your ambitions and challenge you to go to the next level.

Be really honest with yourself about picking that elite group that are going to be your “people”.  Now please remember you do not have to fire everyone in your life that does not do everything that you hoped that they would. You will find the people that are always lifting you up and surrounding you with the energy that you want.  It is always up to you to define how much time you are going to let "those people" have. Be prepared with the tools you are going to put in place to make sure you are not pulled in a direction you don't wish you path to follow.  The last thing you want to see happen is great progress forward just to have someone try to convince you that your dreams are unrealistic or that you are not worthy of everything that you know you have worked your butt off for.

So please, please really give this some deep thought on what that tight circle looks like and how to keep everything moving the right direction by building your amazing support team that has that same thought process that you do as you excel and do amazing things.

Full Transcript

Last week I jumped into some things for you to think about when choosing the people that you surround yourself with.  We talked about the people that are your biggest influencers as well as those people that support your ambitions and challenge you to go to the next level.

This week I am going to touch on 2 more things to really be honest with yourself about when picking that elite group that are going to be your “people”.  Now please remember that I am not asking you to fire everyone in your life that does not do everything that you hoped that they would in lifting you up and surrounding you with the energy that you want.  What I am suggesting is that you define how much time you are going to let those people have and what tools are you going to put in place to make sure that, for example, if you have to spend time with someone who is very negative because maybe they are a family member that they don’t suck you into that trap.  The last thing we want to see happen is great progress forward just to have someone try to convince you that your dreams are unrealistic or that you are not worthy of everything that you know you have worked your butt off for.

So please, please really give this some deep thought on what that tight circle looks like and how to keep everything moving the right direction by building your amazing support team that has that same thought process that you do as you excel and do amazing things.

Alright, enough lecturing…I know you know all of this, but we can all use a little reminder occasionally.

Let’s talk about the next thing to look at when evaluating that group that you hang around.  One thing that we know for sure is that high achievers surround themselves with other high achievers.   Having people in your life that are already successful is a great tool for learning.  These people, like you, already have proven processes in place.  They have gone down the path of failure many times, just as you have, and continue to learn every time they fail, which gets them that much further ahead.  Therefore, joining mastermind groups or networking groups of like-minded people is such a win-win.  You may not feel that you have much to contribute but trust me you have genius ideas that can help someone with a struggle they are having that you have already been through.  We don’t know what we know, because we just do, fail, learn, do and hopefully succeed next time.  Once we have been through that process, we don’t give it much thought.  But trust me the ones that are still tripping over that struggle will be so thankful for your wisdom, just like you will from others that are ahead of you.  It’s a beautiful thing and nothing to be taken for granted.  I would challenge you to make a list of 2 or 3 groups that you can connect with in the next week and do it.  Put it on your finished by Friday list or your planner.  Whatever tool you use to make sure you stay on track.

Next is the one that I love best, and I really think it provides for more growth opportunities than anything else.  It is also the one that I push back the hardest on and have to almost dare myself to do.  You must get outside of your comfort zone.  We all like to do things that we have proven we are good at.  Let’s face it, it makes us look smart, capable and successful.  What happens when we step out and attempt something that we are not so great at.  Well, what happens is we grow and we get better. However, our first thought is that we look stupid and clumsy.  As much as that might be true, we need to get over it.  We know that all growth starts when you reach the end of your comfort zone.  It is imperative to find those people that stretch your mind and force you to really believe in yourself and what you are envisioning for your future.  Likely you will need to go to seminars or workshops designed for high achievers.  These are people that are looking to enrich their minds and they are looking for people to push them to another level, and typically we can’t find that in our everyday lives.  This can be a great opportunity to learn from experts as well as meet others that are not unlike you.  They are looking for that group of people that “get them” and are always bringing great ambition and conversation to the table.  Having those types of interactions with others where you are excited about the things you are talking about can be one of the best ways to overcome possible limiting beliefs you may be harboring, or possibly get you past a plateau you feel you have hit. 

I am again going to challenge you to find an event whether it be local or elsewhere that you can attend where you will be surrounded with people with your same aspirations and drive.  The world is beginning to open up again and the opportunities for these types of learning environments will be opening up soon and in great numbers as people have been so shut down for so long.  The craving for that face to face interaction and learning has never been greater, so go for it…get uncomfortable…I dare you.

I hope this has been helpful and given you some boxes to check off as you are looking at those that you choose to spend the majority of your time with.

The next time you are second guessing what your next step is, or questioning the road to success, take a step back and look at the people around you.  Quit wasting precious energy on those people that are a negative influence, the naysayers and the victims.  Take all that energy that you are using trying to change them, or using to pull yourself up after they drag you down and transfer it to a new goal:  Deciding to surround yourself with energetic, positive, intelligent people who will support you and cheer you on as you build the life that you deserve.

Until next time remember…It is your choice to Focus Forward