Who You Surround Yourself With, Part 1

There are many quotes out there about keeping the right company. Jim Rohn, America’s foremost business philosopher, says, “You’re the sum of the five people you spend the most time with.” Oprah tells us to, “Surround yourself only with the people who are going to lift you higher.”

And on and on.

The reality is, it’s common knowledge to know to surround yourself with ‘good people’. What is less obvious is the definition of ‘good people’. If Lindsay Lohan is saying it at the same time Jim Rohn is, what distinguishing element has brought their lives to such different places? What’s different about their definitions of ‘good people’?

John Wooden has the answer.

John Wooden says, “Whatever you do, surround yourself with smart people who will argue with you.”

Argue with me?!

Yes.

What he means is to surround ourselves with people who will challenge us, who will disagree with our points of view and hold us to account when we’re not doing what we said we would.

So…

When you look at your life, do you have those people present? Some of us kick them out because they’re not telling us what we want to hear, because it’s uncomfortable, because we’d prefer sugary words over arguments. Since humans are also so smart, we might even turn it around on them, accusing them of not loving us for who we are, telling them they’re not ‘good people’ because they’re being a stand for us.

Hmmm…

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If you’ve experienced this first hand or witnessed it, will you share in the comments below?