Choose Who You're With

I was talking to someone the other day about how we eventually turn into the people we surround ourselves with. Whether it's friends or family, we pick up on their behavior and habits. This can be a good thing or bad, depending on who you surround yourself with. If we are hanging around people who are lazy, sooner or later, we are going to become lazy. If we hang out with people who drink a lot and/or do drugs (yes, marijuana is included), we are going to start drinking a lot and doing drugs.

I was thinking back on my friends. When I hung out with people who partied, I partied. When I hung out with people who canstantly strived to be a better person, so did I. ...and I still do. Kids pick up the same habits/traits and behaviors as their parents. Friends are the same way.

Who you spend time with influences the person you eventually become. Who you are with can elevate you as much as it can bring you down. Are you surrounding yourself with people who you would be proud to become??

The following is from a blog that I like. You can read the whole article at http://personalexcellence.co/blog/you-are-the-average-of-the-5-people-you-spend-the-most-time-with/

Shape your life by choosing who you are with

By choosing who you spend time with, you are literally shaping your own future. Start by examining the people you spend the most time around. Consider if these people are enabling you toward your envisioned self. If they are not, identify and increase contact with the people who will enable you to become the best person you can be

Exercise to identify your core circle

Let us do an exercise now. Pick up your pen and paper, then write down the answers to the following questions:

1. What is the kind of person you want to be?

What is your ideal self that you wish to become? What are the qualities you want to possess?

2. Who are the 5 people you spend the most time with in your life currently?

How are they like? What are the top 3 qualities each of them stand for?

3. Do they match who you want to become in the future?

Do their qualities match who you want to become? Do they help enable or disable your vision for yourself? Do they elevate you or bring you down?

4. Who are the top 5 people who embody the qualities you desire?

They should be people you aspire to become and/or respect in some way or another. There are no rules here – It does not matter whether the person is a specific individual or a general person, outside of your social circle, lives in a different country or dead. It can be someone who already achieved the end state or goal that you want to achieve. It can Oprah, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Obama or whoever. Let your imagination run wild here!
If one of your career aspirations is to be a chef, you can list Iron Chef or a world-renowned, international award winning chef as one of the 5 people. If you want to lose 100lbs, list someone who has already achieved this goal or someone who has your aspired body type/weight. If you want to be a movie producer, list someone who has achieved acclaimed successful in this line of work, such as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, etc.

5. How can you increase contact with them?

This is where the interesting bit comes in. Depending on who the people are, you can use the following methods to reach out to them:

1. Direct contact:This can be via face-to-face contact, telephone or via email/internet. How can you increase the opportunities of interfacing with this person? If you know the individual, how can you communicate with him/her more often? If you don’t know the person, does this person belong to a certain community which you can be part of? Do you have any friends who might know this individual? Is there a way for you to bridge into the same social circles? 
2. Products of their work:If direct communication does not work out, you can always bring the person to you in the form of his/her works. Does the person have any works under his/her name, such as shows, books or podcasts? Get your hands on them and soak yourself in them. These materials were after all written/made by them and the content will convey their consciousness and knowledge. In essence, being exposed to these materials is equivalent to interacting with them in person.
3. Visualization:This one sounds like the most airy fairy method out of the three, but it can actually the most powerful. Clear your mind and visualize these people in your mind. Try to project them as clearly as possible, from how they look, think, act, say. When you are done, consult them in your mind and observe their responses to whatever you ask. It can also be used in daily life, where you project their persona onto you in your situations and think/act the way you think they will.Napoleon Hill wrote in ‘Think and Grow Rich‘ that every night before he slept, he would have an imaginary council meeting with his ‘invisible counselors’. The council started out with a group of 9; it eventually expanded over time to over 50. These included people such as Einstein, Aristotle, Confucius, Socrates, and the like. Through these nightly council meetings, he received immense inspiration, knowledge and ideas which he credited for his success in life.

Cherish the Moments

My grandma just turned 86 last week, and it makes me think about how my grandma and grandpa won't always be here. My grandma may act like she's 40, but, like everyone, she's getting older every year. I don't like to think about that cause I'm REALLY close to them, but I can't change reality. As much as I want them to, no one lives forever. They are really the greatest grandparents ever. My grandpa will be 86 next month.

I took my grandma out for her birthday yesterday. She is very special to me and I cherish every moment we have together. I value all of the small (and big) moments we share more and more every day.

Grandma loves playing games, especially a game called aggrevation. I look forward to playing aggrevation with her and my grandpa. It's a small thing, but it will be moments like these that I will remember when they are gone.

Grandpa Goofing Around

I asked my grandparents to write something to say to my niece, Violette, for a photo book I'm making her. I'm puting a DVD in the book with videos of my grandparents (Violette's Great-Grandparents), her parents, her grandparents and others. It will be something Violette can look back on forever. I want my niece to be able to remember her awesome great-grandparent's forever.

The day my grandparent's leave this world will be VERY hard on me, but I will always remember the times we have had together. I wanna make as many memories as I can with them while I can. I am definitely taking lots of pictures so I can look back on these moments forever.

I appoligize for the lack of pictures on this blog. I was having a lot of problems with blogger when I was trying to upload the pictures.



Where do you want to be?

I’ve never been the type to do the whole “New Year’s Resolution” thing, but this year I’ve decided to make my resolutions list. I have several things I’d like to accomplish this year. I’m excited to set some goals and achieve them!

So, what are the advantages of writing New Year’s resolutions? Some advantages are:

1)      Motivation: It’s a good way to motivate yourself and keep yourself on track to achieving your goals.

2)    Purpose: The sense of purpose is very important in accomplishing goals. Thus, people are much more motivated to achieve each of their goals if they have a reason to achieve those goals.

3)     Focus: Writing out goals helps you better focus on the elements that create success.

4)    Confidence: People have more confidence when they are noticeably making progress on their goals.

5)     Sense of Achievement: When we achieve something, it makes us feel good about ourselves.

Now that we’ve established why goal setting is important, you might be asking “how do I set goals?” The answer? You have to be SMART.

  

  Specific

  Measurable

    Achievable/Attainable
    Realistic
    Timely




SPECIFIC - A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

*Who:      Who is involved?

  *What:     What do I want to accomplish?
  *Where:    Identify a location.
  *When:     Establish a time frame.
  *Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.
  *Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Lose Weight.” But a specific goal would say, “Eat lean meat, fruits, and vegetables, and workout 4 days a week.”

MEASURABLE - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the achievement of each goal you set.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask yourself questions like…

   ~ How much?

    ~ How many?
    ~ How will I know when it is accomplished?

ACHIEVABLE – When you identify goals that are important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them happen. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them.

REALISTIC - To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective in which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic. Just be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

TIMELY – A goal should have a time frame in which it will be achieved. When there’s no time frame set, there’s no sense of urgency. For example, if you want to learn how to surf, when do you want to learn by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you establish a timeframe, “by July 1, 2012”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

It's a good idea to post your goals somewhere that you will see it everyday. This helps keep your goals on your mind and motivates you to follow through with your goals.

Now that you know how to write successful goals, it’s time to get started! Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 30 years from now? What do you have to do to get there? 


 

“For changes to be of any true value, they've got to be lasting and consistent. Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards. When people ask me what really changed my life eight years ago, I tell them that absolutely the most important thin was changing what I demanded of myself. I wrote down all the things I would no longer accept in my life, all the things I would no longer tolerate, and all the things that I aspired to becoming.”

                                                                                                                                                ~ Anthony Robbins
 

“If you don't set a baseline standard for what you'll accept in life, you'll find it's easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that's far below what you deserve.”

                                                                                                                                                     ~ Anthony Robbins