Thursday, April 12, 2012

Day 7 - Positive Thoughts

Surround yourself with people that are smarter and more successful than you.

Yesterday I was able to sit down with the CEO of a competing company in my industry.  In fact, his company ranks in the top 25 in the country and is a great model of how I want my company to be.  I won't get into details about our industry topics but I will point out that you need to surround yourself with successful people.  There is the old saying, you are what you eat.  And it is also true, you are who you spend time with.  We've all seen a good kid go bad because of the friends he chooses.  The same applies throughout your entire life.

If you want to be successful, you shouldn't hang around with people with zero motivation.  You should spend as much time with hard working, intelligent people that are going to motivate you to be a better person.  That's what happened to me yesterday.  I thought I was brilliant for spending time with this CEO.  And he was sitting there telling me how he spends time consulting with his competitors.  With people who are smarter and more successful than him.  He is really successful.  I assumed he didn't apply this. What an idiot I was.  Of course he surrounds himself with successful people!  He wouldn't have gotten to where he is without applying this principle.

So you should take a look at the people you spend the most time with.  Are they inspiring?  Are they successful?  Are they the type of person you want to be?  Or not?  If not, you should change it up.  I know I need to seek out more counsel with people that are more intelligent and more successful than I am.  I learned a lot just spending 1 1/2 hours with this CEO.  I read books.  I read as many books as I can and they help.  But I need more interaction with more successful people.

Great experience.

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