Why you must surround yourself with success to be successful

One of the greatest things you can do to achieve any kind of success in life is to surround yourself with success. The people around you will determine your future.

“Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” Mark Ambrose

I believe in this so much that I have built it into every single one of my courses. Your surrounding influences, chosen correctly, can accelerate you learning, your success and have you achieving your goals 10 times faster than you could do alone. Not only that, it’s more fun.

Making sure you have your surrounding influences right doesn’t mean you cut off from your family or turn your back on colleagues and friends. It only means that you seek out and engage with a group of people who are achieving the results you want times FIVE.

It doesn’t matter what those results are. It could be happiness, great relationships, fulfilling career, wealth and opportunity. Regardless of what is on your vision board for the future, these people, your 5 by 5 will be the ones who get your mind prepared and focused on achieving your goal.

“You become like the five people you spend the most time with. Choose carefully.” Jim Rohn

The part that frustrates me as a mentor and leader is that this very simple, highly engaging and powerful tool is usually the one people avoid the most!

They are prepared to do all the other work and all the other tasks but when it comes to getting their 5 by 5 they baulk.

Why? Because meeting people in a position above you is intimidating. It’s a challenge that might be met with rejection. Why would someone who owns a yacht and sails the globe, want to talk to me? Why would a couple who have a great marriage and have a deeply rewarding relationship want me sitting at their dinner table?

For so many people this step in gaining their dreams is the one thing outside their comfort zone they can’t stand to face. Because if you do that, you have to look at change straight away. You’d have to be the bigger person NOW. If you want to stand at the dock or sit at that table you’d need to be interested, you’d need to invest your time in your passion, you’d need to leave your fears at the door and dive right in.

Imagine if you took up that challenge and started living the life you want right now? Imagine how quickly and how easily you’d get to those goals. With hesitation gone, you remove the roadblocks that cause massive delays, doubts, criticisms and pain. Hesitation causes pain. Truckloads of it.

“Surround yourself with people that reflect who you want to be and how you want to feel, energies are contagious.” Anonymous

Find those people who are achieving five times more than you wish to achieve and be in their presence. What happens in that space is you naturally pick up on their belief systems, their values and the positive mindset tools they engage to make their lifestyle happen. No one falls into success, it takes work, passion and positive patterns. Find those patterns and mimic them and you will start to see results.

“You need to associate with people that inspire you, people that challenge you to rise higher, people that make you better. Don’t waste your valuable time with people that are not adding to your growth. Your destiny is too important.” Joel Osteen

Myths I want to address right now. So many people think that your five by five is your personal how to manual. It’s not. You still need to apply and test and do the work to get the knowledge they have into your work and your passion. This is not a place where you sit down and pick their brains. You have normal conversations, you are friends with common interests. It’s not a time where you take out a notebook and conduct an interview. You simply enjoy being around them. Enjoy listening to what they say and engaging with them.

We do this all the time with our families, with our friends, around the water cooler at work. There is a natural occurrence in our brain to meld to our community and adopt their beliefs, their ideals and even their language. All we are doing with the surrounding influences exercise is bringing that automatic brain response to group situations and making it work for us in incredible ways.

“Surround yourself with the dreamers, and the doers, the believers, and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.” Edmund Lee

I’d like for you to imagine, as vividly as possible the following scenes. In each scene put yourself in the situation and notice your posture, the type of words you use, the stories you tell, the feelings in your body and the thoughts in your head.

What results do you believe you can get from the time you spend with these groups:

Scene 1. You are sitting in a library with a study group of A+ students. You are together to practice for an exam next week.

Scene 2. You are at a bar with a group of rowdy co-workers who love a few drinks and plan to stay on for a while. They bitch about how much they hate the new CEO.

Scene 3. You are at an art gallery opening with five art executives who spend their time discussing each piece and what they like about it with you.

Scene 4. You are at the gym with five personal trainers who are also competitive body builders. You plan to lift weights with them and go out for lunch afterwards.

Think about your attitude in each scenario. Notice how wildly it changes and how different the outcomes are within each atmosphere. Next time you are around a group of people notice how they influence you. Start to imagine a scenario where you could choose to surround yourself with the best minds to achieve your goal. What would they sound like, what would they do and where would you find them?

Taking the first step and introducing yourself to your five by five could possibly be one of the most uncomfortable things you ever do in your life. However, having that group will teach you things about life, yourself and your destination that will possibly be the most incredible thing you ever do for yourself. You have nothing to lose. And five amazing people to gain!

Remember as well as your five people who are achieving five times your goal, also look for a mastermind group who are at your level and on your journey, a mentor or coach who can offer objective guidance and teaching and education that will increase your awareness and ability in your chosen field. Never stop growing. Keep stepping up and reaching out.

Ready to meet you 5 by 5? Register for Live it Now today and take the first step.

Kindest regards,

Matt Catling