Who you associate with matters….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"article":"This week in class, one of our members was talking to me about a family that lives in Arizona but spends the summer in MI.\u00a0 When they first started coming to MI, they trained over the summer at the first gym I ran with a partner.\u00a0 Over time, they decided to switch gyms because of a particular policy that they didn\u2019t like.\u00a0 It was a policy that I did not like as well, but it was one that my partner insisted upon.\u00a0 Since they almost exclusively trained on the days my partner was not there, that policy naturally got associated with me.\u00a0 I was happy to hear that recently they were informed it was not only a policy I didn\u2019t enact, it was one I didn\u2019t like, and one I eliminated when I opened GB Northville.\u00a0 By simply being in that environment though, this negativity was attached to me.\r\n\r\nWho we hang around matters.\u00a0 I believe it was in the book \u201cThink and Grow Rich\u201d that mentioned you will most likely be earning about the same amount of money as your 5 closest friends.\u00a0 Think about how that could affect your life.\u00a0 Need a better financial situation?\u00a0 Well, you could start by simply hanging around the most successful people you know.\u00a0 Eventually, that lifestyle and decision making will start to impact your situation.\u00a0 But, it\u2019s not just your financial situation that will be about the same as your 5 closest friends, it will be EVERYTHING about your life; your morals and ethics, your drive, your faith, your perspectives\u2026\u2026.everything will start to match the people you associate with most.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s not magic.\u00a0 It\u2019s simply that people are social animals and we will simply start to follow the behaviors of the people we hang out with most, whether we realize it or not.\u00a0 Steve Harvey talked about this on one of his stand-up routines.\u00a0 Once he started making it big, he got out of the hood and started to associate himself with other successful people.\u00a0 He said his friends at the time were very annoyed that he was leaving them behind, but he knew they were going to keep trying to drag him down to their level because failure simply hates success.\u00a0 When failure sees success, it has 2 options: rise up to meet success or drag success down to failure\u2019s level.\u00a0 Remember, everything around you is seeking to find that average.\u00a0 One success is going to have a hard time raising 4 failures.\r\n\r\nThis is not to say you should abandon those that stood by you in the tough times, but what Steve knew was that success and growth requires a different mindset than the mindset that is stuck in the same static cycles.\u00a0 Growth and development need like-minded people.\u00a0 That is one of the primary messages of churches that many people miss.\u00a0 Church is simply a way to associate with like minded people to strengthen your own personal journey of faith.\r\n\r\nI have spent the last couple years clearing out the people in my life that had been dragging me down and being a physical and emotional drain on my energy.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t realize how much it had been impacting me until those people were gone.\u00a0 You are the average of those around you.\u00a0 These can be difficult decisions, because the people you need to clear out of your life are most likely going to be people you were very close with at some point, family, friends, co-workers, and teammates.\u00a0 While the process of clearing those people from my life was stressful and difficult, I can tell you the light on the other side of that process has been absolutely worth it.\u00a0 Probably the most important part of the process, but also the most difficult, is to eventually forgive those people for any damage they may have caused you.\u00a0 Carrying around that animosity is no way to go through life.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying I\u2019m the best at this by any stretch of the imagination, but I can certainly attest to how that negativity will drag you down.\r\n\r\nWho you hang around with matters.\u00a0 Take this very seriously.\u00a0 It reflects on every aspect of your life.\u00a0 Be bold and live your life the best possible way.\u00a0 Have the courage to let go of people that don\u2019t have your best interests in mind.\u00a0 We get one shot at this life.\u00a0 Make it the best it can be by associating with the best people you can find.","featured_image":"","featured_image_id":"","featured_article":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-401","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n