11Examine the People You Are Spending the Most Time With
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
—Proverbs 27:17
Just as you have to be intentional about what you are consuming and what you are thinking, you also must be mindful of the people you are spending the most time with. All that time you spend with them makes an impact. Over time, you become more and more like the people you spend the most time with. It's inevitable.
So then the questions become, “How are you being guided and influenced by the people with whom you spend the most time? Are they making you better? The same? Or worse?”
Most people would rather keep things the same than risk uncomfortable change. However, when we take that risk and consciously curate the people who can add the most value to our lives, we enter into a community that uplifts each other and supports us to succeed in ways we may not have thought possible.
The Profound Influence of the People You Spend the Most Time With
The late Jim Rohn, famous entrepreneur, author, and speaker, once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Though that was an opinion and wasn't a scientific assessment, it's still a quote that you will see popping up in business and psychology articles to this day. As the decades pass since he originally made that statement, evidence has accumulated that he may have been right. Some people have even taken it further financially, saying that, over time, you'll earn within ...