Upgrade Your Neighborhood

The best predictor of the quality of your life is the quality of the people you surround yourself with. If you're surrounded by people that are negative most of the time, you'll be negative most of the time. If you're surrounded by people that complain a lot, you'll look at the world as a very frustrating place. If you surround yourself with people who aren't growing, you'll find it really hard to grow.

It's just really hard to swim against that current of the people around you, and when you try to break out of their ways of thinking, they'll pull you back in - not because they're bad people, but it might be all they know. They actually think they're helping you.

On the other hand, when you're surrounded by people who are excited about the future, you'll be more excited about the future. When you're surrounded by people who take responsibility for changing their lives, you'll take more responsibility. When you're surrounded by people who are learning and growing, you're more likely to learn and grow. In fact, Jim Rohn once said, "You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with." Who are those five people for you? You won't improve your life, unless you improve your neighborhood.

So let's talk a little bit about the different parts of your neighborhood, and I want to challenge you to think about where you could improve.

●     First is your family. Now, I know you can't change your family, but you can absolutely change who you spend more time with and who you spend less time with.

●     Your friends, your social group, same thing.

●     What about the local community?

●     What about your religious/spiritual organizations?

Those are all over on the personal side. Let's move to the business side.

●     What about work? Do you have the right community at work? What does that tell you about your job or your business? What does that tell you about the team you're on?

●     Business organizations - I know in the past, I've joined business organizations filled with the people. I aspire to be. Are you part of the right organizations that challenge you to be your best?

●     Who are your mentors, who are your coaches? Do you have mentors and coaches?

●     And are you part of any mastermind group? Are you part of any groups of like-minded individuals who get together regularly to challenge you, to pat you on the back, to kick you in the butt, to help you come up with ideas to improve your life and improve your business?

I want to challenge you. Who do you need to spend more time with? Who do you need to spend less time with? What types of people or groups do you need to find? What's your action plan for upgrading your neighborhood?