The Power of Association

Who do you associate with in your life the most? Think of the top 5 accomplices, friends, or family members with whom you spend the most of your time.

Now, consider this: do you want the life that they lead? Do you want to be just like them?

Because you see, you may find that you are a lot more like them than you even realize.

Most people don’t “choose” who they associate with. Their sphere of influence usually happens through convenience or happenstance. Family members, co-workers, or people that happen to walk a similar path as us usually end up being those that we associate with the most.

But did you know that most of your life will largely look like the lives of the top 5 people with whom you spend your time?

Think about it.

You will probably find that the top 5 people within your sphere of influence are usually dealing with similar struggles, they experience similar highs and lows – and usually, they will be close to the same income as you are.

Why is that?

It’s called the Power of Association – and its influence cannot be understated.

Robert Kiyosaki wrote in Rich Dad Poor Dad that “If you want to be rich, choose your friends carefully.”

His advice? Choose your friends – and choose them based on what you can learn.

He also said something profound. That he has never had someone that he considered “poor” ask him how to be successful. Instead, they usually ask for a loan or a job. But, you see, he was always willing to share the wealth of knowledge regarding how he became successful.

How to Put the Power of Association to Work for You

Your friends that you hang out with, along with the other people that you spend time with have a tremendous impact on you and your life.  The opportunities that are available to you, the choices that you make, even the amount of money in your bank account are all greatly affected by the people around you.  It’s been said that you are the average of the 5 people that you spend the most time with.  Let’s look at how you can put the power of association to work for you.

Association matters  

Who you associate with is too important to be left to chance.  In order to really put the power of association to work for you, you must recognize that you are in control of, and solely responsible for, choosing who you spend time with.  Most people never put the power of association to work for themselves, because their choice of who they associate with is primarily driven by convenience and circumstance.

Affects your thinking 

The people that we spend time with have a great impact on our thinking.  If the people around us are positive, we tend to be more positive.  The inverse holds true as well.  Ever notice how if you’re not really careful that when you’re around negative people, you tend to be more negative as well?  The thinking of those around us affects our own thinking.  Since our thinking affects our actions, and our actions in turn affect our results, guarding our thinking takes on a special importance.  Becoming consciously aware of the thinking of those you’re spending time with is the first step toward surrounding yourself with people whose thinking will have a positive impact on your own.

Affects your habits

The habits of the people that we choose to spend the most time with tend to rub off on us.  If you choose to spend time with people who are very goal focused and write their goals down on paper, then chances are if you’re not writing your goals down, you soon will be.  If those you spend time with tip generously, chances are you do to.  If those around us highly value investing in themselves and are focused on growth personally and in their business, then we tend to do the same.

Just like each of the planets has a gravitational pull on their surroundings, our friends have a gravitational pull on us.  This isn’t to say that we will become exactly like our friends in every detail, or that all of our friends have the exact same habits.  However, the dominant habits of those that we spend time with will tend to rub off on us over time.

The key to really putting the power of association to work is to ensure that the average of the 5 people we’re spending the most time with is pulling us up instead off pulling us down.  When you’re consciously aware of the impact that those around you have on your life, you gain the ability to put the power of association to work for you.  This is one of the key differentiators that distinguishes highly successful people from the masses.

It’s why, when successful people gather together, it’s electric! They feed on each other’s strengths. “Like begets like!”

So, who are you associating with?

And more importantly, who do you need to associate with?

Choose those people wisely: with intention.