The Power of Associations

If you were to carefully analyze the major influences in your life that have shaped you into becoming the person you are, two inseparable entities are bound to come on top of that list: the people and thoughts that you chose to allow into your life.

Jim Rohn, an international motivational speaker once said in an article that his mentor used to tell him "Never underestimate the power of influence." Truly, the influence of those around us is so powerful it can change the course of your life in the right way or in the wrong direction. Most times, the influence of those we associate with is not usually noticed because influences, like leadership and attitudes, generally develops daily, not in a day.  Peer pressure especially, is a very powerful force because it is subtle. Peer pressure does not just refer to the early stages of our lives; it encompasses all areas of life. For instance, there's a common trend where young men are more concerned about fun but father's are more concerned about what their sons would become in life, because in those two are brackets, the things they worry about are not the same.

If you hang around people who spend all they make and invest nothing, chances are pretty high that you will do the same. If you around people who can't wait for weekends just so they can attend the next party or watch the next premiership or La Liga match, the chances are pretty high that you would do the same. If you stay around people who don't read, chances are that you won't read either. People can keep nudging us off course gradually until we find ourselves in a destination that will make us ask "How did I get here?". Those subtle influences need to be carefully studied and understood if we want to make the kind of progress that we have always aspired to make. If your dream is to keep making or start making genuine progress in life, then there are four questions that you need to ask yourself with regards to your association. They are:

WHO AM I AROUND?
Take a pen and a paper, go to a quiet place and make a note of all the people with whom you spend most of your time. Who are these people? Why did I become friends or associate in the first place? You have got to evaluate everybody who is able to influence you in any way.

WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO ME?
This is the second most important question to ask. What have they got me doing? What have they me listening to? What have they got me  reading? Where have they got me going?

HOW HAVE THEY GOT ME THINKING?
How you think is so crucial because it practically dictates how your life will turn out. And how you think is primarily shaped by the subtle influences in your life. How have they got me thinking? How have they got me speaking? How have they got me feeling? How have they got me behaving? This is very crucial because everything in life begins with a thought and develops into words and then actions; positive or negative.

AM I OK WITH ALL THAT?
Maybe everyone you associate with has been a positive, energizing influence or maybe not. But what will it hurt to just take a closer look. Everything is worth a second look, especially the power of association. Every association(positive or negative) will take you somewhere, but only one will take you in the direction you need to go.

You need to keep checking to find out whether your associations are tipping the scales towards the positive or the negative. Ignorance is never the best the policy.