Choose Your Friends With Caution

I used the following quote in a previous Medium story on changing your standards to change your life.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” — Jim Rohn

The problem with averages is math, as in people tend to ignore the math, and the problem with standards is there is rarely enough pleasure in setting them to keep you 100% on course. For those that work better avoiding pain please watch this video:

 

Listen, if you want to catch the flu, what do you do? You hang out with somebody with the flu.

This is the perfect analog for your peer group. It takes one person to spread the flu to an entire group. If you want to raise your standards you need to make sure no one has the flu in your entire peer group. They will either give it to everyone or, more likely, the people with higher standards will wait for that person with the flu to leave before they ever come into the room. This choice, to be forever sick or to be vaccinated for life, is entirely in your hands. Choose your friends with caution.

(Originally posted on Medium)