Jim Rohn said that “You’re the average of the five people you spend most of the time with. It’s also been said “show me your friends and I’ll show you your future”. It’s quite interesting how we seem to just gravitate and attract to people who we want to be around. But we have to keep the desire to be like someone else in check. This circle of friends is also your biggest circle of influence on your life, and because it is highly influential it can steer you in the direction of where they are going. So choose wisely.
You may not like something but end up doing things your friends do because they wear you down. You may purchase something you don’t care about just to satisfy the circle, or end up doing something you may regret, so choose wisely.
On the flip side, being selective of who you have in your circle can be to your advantage. You can be friendly with everyone, but who you let in close to you, the people you allow to speak into your life, you can choose to build this circle like a team. A team to have your back and to help you when you need it. You can build a circle of encouragement.
One last thing, it has to be mutual. You have to present yourself as an asset to be chosen, just as you are choosing them. For a community to work well, everyone pitches in and makes available their gifts and talents to be utilized by the group. If you sit around and expect to be fed by everyone around you, what happens to you when they don’t feel like it anymore and stop?