Max Bottaro

“Statistically, your annual income will be the average income of the 5 people you spend the most time with”- Jim Rowan, business philosopher.

Income isn’t everything, but I think it’s important to realize that the people you choose to surround yourself with have a deep impact on who you are, your attitudes, perceptions, and even what you can accomplish.

Take out a pen and a piece of paper. Write down the 5 people you spend the most time with on a daily basis. Go down the list and honestly ask yourself “does this person bring value to my life, or are they taking value?” If they are adding value, put a plus next to their name. If they are taking value, write a minus. Just like stores do inventory checks at the end of the year, you need to habitually monitor the kinds of people and energy you allow into your life- their effects are as real and tangible as your income.

This is a great exercise because most people aren’t even consciously aware of who they let in their life- we tend to unreflectively march through life like horses with blinders on . If you want to be productive and positive, you need to make a conscious effort to be around energetic and positive people, while consciously avoiding people with negative energy, or who rob you of your energy. Do you feel motivated, positive, and energetic after speaking with a certain person, or do you feel lethargic? These are cues to pay attention to.

The people whose name you put a minus next to might be very nice people, they might be close friends or even family, but I would advise you to distance yourself from them for your own sake. Also, even if someone on your list isn’t really a positive or a negative, you might want to consider replacing this person with someone with stronger positive attributes. Time and energy are finite resources; make sure you use them wisely.

Let’s consider an analogy. You have a fish tank, and all the fish inside are getting sick and dying. What is the first thing you’d do to correct the problem? Most people would probably change the water or the environment the fish are in- the fish aren’t the issue, it’s the contaminated environment. If you feel like you haven’t made much progress in the past few months, do a personal inventory check and consider changing your surroundings- their effects can be quite profound.