We don’t live life in a vacuum or in an echo chamber. Our behaviors, decisions, habits, and routines are influenced by the people we spend time with and even look up to. Any good parent values the influences that contribute to children’s behavior. Some examples of this may be the friends that they have, the activities that they partake in, and even the media they consume. Also, good parents are engaged in their children’s behavior. They promote good behavior and discourage less than ideal behavior.

Society promotes independent thought and people’s free will. However, truly successful people are influenced by those around them. If you look at the nature of pro sports and elite athletes, their behavior is highly influenced by others. From a young age, coaches and other adults dictate their practice schedule, weightlifting schedule, and other regimens, and activities.  This continues throughout the college career and beyond. 

If you want to live out an amazing life, you must find people who will help you think through your goals, encourage your dreams, and influence your behavior. We take hundreds of actions throughout the day and our productivity, or lack thereof, leads us to the life that we have. Also, the amount of access we have to successful people or how much we allow ourselves to be influenced tells us what is possible or not. If we want to achieve greater levels of success, we have to always upgrade the people who influence us. In addition, we have to change the way we look at others who are in a different position than us. So often, we look at other successful people as the enemy. People who want to keep us down. In reality, if we simply listen to them, give them reasons we should have access to them and, most importantly, learn how to serve them, then we can tap into their mindset and their mentality.

It’s easier to achieve success when you are surrounded by other successful people. It’s easier to be on a diet when your friends don’t want to order nachos whenever you go out.  It’s easier to deal with challenges when the people around you don’t encourage you to be a victim, but instead give you constructive feedback.

Most goals have been achieved in one form or another.  Being influenced by the right people is one of the principles of amazing success.

Each day, we have activities that contribute to survival or even improving our lives. What to eat, when to exercise, how we treat our families, or our kids are all examples of behaviors that impact our lives. Professionally, we might have activities that impact our productivity, such as checking our emails, interacting with others, working on projects, etc. In any case, the people who we spend time with the most have a deep influence on how well we produce the results that we want. If you want an amazing life, be careful about who you invite into your life, personally and professionally.

The majority of people have an organic view of their life and what success is. They base their assumptions about what it takes to succeed from the people who influence them the most.  They look at their community, their family, their industry they’re in, the opportunities that their jobs provide. They also base their goals and their effort on the people around them. They base their financial goals, personal goals, where they go on vacation, retirement goals, etc. on the people in their circle whether that be professional or personal. 

In order to make this process less organic, you must expand the people who have your ear or can influence you. This might include expanding your professional circles, looking into the self-help industry or just being open to expanding your mindset.

A great example of this is my buddy and stage partner, Chris Stevenson. He started off as a stuntman. After that, he started training people and created a small following. From there he opened a gym. He started speaking at fitness events. He eventually, got into franchising as a result of meeting many leaders in the circuit.

One advantage that my disability gave me was the fact that the traditional ways of success were tainted. This gave me the opportunity and time and I was forced to study what it took to become successful. If I weren’t disabled, I most likely would not have time to really reflect and come up with methodologies that could help propel me and expand my mind. My studies expose me to many different methodologies and many different mindsets. I have heard many millionaires and even billionaires talk about their journeys. I’m always immersing myself in books and different ways of achieving success.

The interesting fact about most industries is that it’s very easy to network with the people who are at the top. Most of the people at the top talk to each other and speak at a handful of industry events. It’s easy to meet them and pick their brain. Also, it’s important to keep up with books and industry specific media. There are podcasts, events, books, articles, masterminds, coaching programs, etc.

One problem is that some people achieve one level of success and run out of resources. Their time is maxed out, their team is maxed out, and they assume that they hit a ceiling. In reality, if they are open-minded and are influenced by a new group of people who can take you to another level. Many people don’t know that there’s a next level. Many people don’t realize that, with just a couple of mindset tweaks and introducing the right methodologies, they can take their life to a level that they just don’t realize.

As a person achieves success, one casualty is that there are fewer and fewer people who can relate to you and who you can relate to. I cannot go meet a random stranger and talk about complicated marketing concepts or sales funnels. Success can get lonely.

A big part of where you are is the level of actions that you take or the behaviors that you have.  These are the building blocks of your life and your success. In order to make this process easier, you must be influenced by the right people. As you change and evolve over time, the people in your life who influence you need to change and evolve with you. Some people in your life may change with you.  Some people may be good in one area, but don’t know how to help you in another area.

The people in your life should support your dreams and your goals.

Summary:

On the road to success, it’s important for you to connect with people who influence you and your success. Interacting with those who have already been where you’ve been will help you to get the tools you need to achieve amazing success.