By Association

LifeHacker linked to an
article about motivation and highlighted one particular one.
#3 Socialize with others of similar interest. Mutual support
is motivating. We will develop the attitudes of our five best
friends. If they are losers, we will be a looser. If they are
winners, we will be a winner. To be a cowboy we must associate with
cowboys. Despite the glaring and very annoying
grammatical error, I must say I generally agree with the sentiment.

I’ve noticed that who you associate with has a lot to do with who you
become, what you wish for, what your goals are, and how you spend
your days. Being surrounded by your kind of people is crucial. More
so than you might imagine. And I mean physically surrounded by.
People you go out to lunch with. People you see relatively regularly.
When I lived in New York, the people I saw on a day-to-day basis were
very different from each other. The people I worked with at TFA would
never categorize themselves with the investment bankers or the
bookstore people I regularly saw. Despite being so different, every
single person I was around was interesting, intellectually
stimulating and offered a lot to learn from. I loved that. I soaked
up everything around me. Everyone’s knowledge. Everyone’s excitement.
In my environment, it was rare to run into someone who wasn’t someone
you’d want to know.

That environment made me want to become a more interesting person.
It challenged me. It motivated me. And I didn’t realize how much
until I left it. I didn’t understand how much of it I was taking for
granted. I do now. I think I did realize it relatively quickly after
we moved to San Diego, but I didn’t understand the depth of the
difference until recently.

The people around you, the place where you work, the friends you have
can electrify you. They can make you feel that you can change the
world. Move mountains. They can make you feel like you’re excellent,
deserving, inspiring. They can bring out the very best in you and
help you reach all your unrealized potential.

People around you can also bring out the worst in you. They can make you
petty, jealous, shallow. Lazy. They can make you scared of yourself
and unsure of your abilities.

Next time you pick a new friend, a new job, a new surrounding, remember this: whom you associate with determines the person you become.