As I’ve grown older (and hopefully wiser) I’ve come to realize a few things that I consider to be true.
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You are who you hang out with.
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You are what you read.
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You are what you think about.
If you ask a parent what one of their many concerns are while raising kids they will often respond with, “I’m always worried about who my kids are associating with.” If your kid is hanging around a bunch of punks, is it more likely that “your great kid” will turn the punks into upstanding and good social citizens or is it more likely that your kid will morph into a young punk?
The same holds true for adults. You are who you hang out with. If you hang out with a bunch of lazy people with bad attitudes, it’s highly likely that you will start diminishing into a lazy person with a bad attitude.
I remember very clearly from my competitive athletic days that it was far easier to train and be committed to excellence when I surrounded myself with people that were disciplined and committed to personal excellence. We all have bad days or get tired. But it’s far easier to buck up and jump into a cold swimming pool at 5:30am when you know all of your friends or competition are at the pool training hard. There are some days when we all need a little encouragement or extra motivation to keep us on track with our own goals and objectives.
“He that loves reading has everything within his reach.”
William Godwin
Reading is essential to success. There is just no way that a person can experience everything that they need to be successful (or wealthy) within their own lifetime. Reading allows us to capitalize on knowledge that countless others have already learned (probably the hard way). Be choosy in what you read. Read to build the brain, to build better personal processes, and to help you think more clearly which leads to better overall lifetime decisions. I’m not sure reading cartoons all day will help you in your endeavors to become wealthy (or healthy).
Pay attention to what consumes your thoughts all day. Are your thoughts filled with anger and disgust? Are your thoughts filled with all kinds of things that you want to spend your money on? Are your thoughts on who you hate at work and what you would love to do to get even with somebody? What do you think about?
Successful people align their thoughts, behaviors and actions around what it is that they want to accomplish. Take a guess what wealthy people think about “ALL THE TIME.” They think about ways to increase their wealth and get ahead. They are constantly thinking about making decisions that lead them closer to their goal (which is to become wealthier).
They aren’t thinking, “Hey, I want to be wealthy” and then go and not only imagine all kinds of ways to blow their money but actually go and do things to blow their money. They are constantly thinking of ways to earn more, save more, reduce outflows, eliminate debt, take calculated risks, and look for new opportunities or people that could help them reach their goals.
Most average people don’t think like that. Most people think about going home at 5:00pm, what they are going to eat for dinner and then what they are going to watch on TV for the rest of the night. They think about personal drama. They get consumed about what someone thinks of them or what someone else should be doing with their life. They get on the phone and talk about others and what some other person is or isn’t doing. But they aren’t doing any real thinking (or doing) on anything that will move them forward in their own life.
You are what you think. Be careful of what you get consumed with mentally. Learn processes and tricks to change your mental thoughts from negative things to positive things. Learn to change your thoughts about what went wrong yesterday to what can go right tomorrow. Learn to think for yourself and act on your own behalf rather than spending all of your time consumed with other people and what they are doing.