Game Plan: How Your Community Affects Your Success

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This is an excerpt from Game Plan: Achieve Your Goals in Life, Career, and Business. Subscribe to Pregame this month and get the digital version free!

Once you begin to open your possibilities and expand your vision, you’ll quickly have an epiphany: other people know how to do stuff better than you do!

When I finally started to understand the immense wisdom gained through open and honest experiences with a group of like-minded people, I started becoming the person I want to be a whole lot faster. Being around people who have similar values reinforces who you are.

If there’s one area where goal gurus agree, it’s that you have to watch your back in terms of who else has it. The people you surround yourself with have a ton of influence on you, whether you realize it or not.

Is your environment supporting your goals or somehow undermining them?

Now, I’m not sure I agree with the maxim that “you are the average of the five people you hang out with most,” much less disposing of friends who aren’t the exact embodiment of the person you’re trying to become.

Different people bring different dimensions to your life, and it’s incredibly rare that one friend or family member or colleague will be all things to you at all times.

Plus, everyone goes through a rough patch or even an annoying phase. So while it’s important to opt out of genuinely toxic relationships, let’s always give each other the space to be human and evolving.

Here are some questions I ask myself about the people I allow into my life:

  • Does this person love me whether I’m successful or just average?
  • Does this person show up when I need them?
  • Do I trust this person?
  • Is this person happy and healthy?
  • Do I have to play a certain role to be around this person?

Studies show that the happiest people are those in a dynamic community. So make sure your goals incorporate other people and that your success doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

It’s better to do a little less with more love than to do more all by yourself.