Sum of 5

You are the sum of the 5 people you most hang out with.

Their characteristics, traits, personality.

All blending into one person, you.

You become a living, moving, breathing amalgamation of all their positive and negative character traits.

Have you ever caught yourself subconsciously doing things that your friends do?

You realise you’re catching onto their habits, their tendencies, because you have spent so much time together.

Sometimes it’s things you wouldn’t normally do.

This happens especially during periods of transition, like moving homes, switching schools, entering college, work, etc.

You suddenly find a completely different version of yourself, even at times to the point of an identity crisis.

You don’t recognize who you are, nor the things you do.

The way you talk, dress, walk, everything changes.

This might seem like an exaggeration, but it’s because these things happen subconsciously, that we fail to take notice of it.

Imagine this on a higher level.

Let’s zoom out for a second.

You have heard the notion that ‘your environment shapes people.’

But is that entirely true?

People have gone through similar, if not, identical life situations, and yet end up on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Some turn out very good, some turn out very bad.

There are people with an alcoholic dad who doesn’t drink, and there’s people with an alcoholic dad who is alcoholic.

Same environment, different outputs.

???

How does two same inputs in the same environment, give two different outputs?

Only if something changes internally in the ‘input’ itself.

People who go through the most toughest problems in life either:

1. Blame their conditions and use that as an excuse for never getting better, or

2. Use their conditions as a reason EXACTLY why they should succeed.

If you blame the externals everytime something bad happens to you, you’re just making it inevitably harder for yourself.

It is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Extreme ownership.

Account for everything that happens to you, good or bad.

Don’t blame it on the people you hang out with, don’t blame it on your alcoholic dad.

You get to decide the output.

You do.

Choose your friends wisely.

They are going to influence almost every decision you make, whether you like it or not.

You hang out with 5 people who all go the gym, you eventually will also go to the gym.

We are social creatures. We are accustomed to mirror actions.

I’m not saying everyone who hangs around with smokers also smoke.

Because that’s where resilience comes in; simpler terms—having a mind of your own.

‘Are you doing the things you want to do, because you WANT to do them?’

Keep one eye on your friends, and one eye on your enemies.

Atleast you know what your enemies’ intentions are. 👁️

Choose your friends wisely.

Have a good week, and godspeed. 🗲