The Fastest Way to Succeed in Life is to Change Who You Hang With

Who You Hang with is Who You Are

You may have heard some version of the phrase, "tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are," before. We are who we surround ourselves with. I cannot stress enough how important this is to understand in your journey to become successful in life, as well as successful in mastering and addiction.

Here is my little story about how I eventually figured this out on my own, not so long ago.



Hanging out with Bad Boys turned me into the Worst Boy

I was a shy kid growing up, but when I turned thirteen years old and started smoking pot, I became a rebel. I began hanging out with older kids who were always in trouble, skipping school, drinking, doing drugs, lying, cheating and stealing.

My mom always told me that I needed to find different friends. She told me that I was getting in trouble all the time because of the people I was hanging around with. I was young and stupid, but although I knew that deep down I was a good person, I continued to hang out with these so called friends, knowing the stuff I was doing was wrong.

Does this remind you of any of your friends?
I ended up getting addicted to pot (yet you can get psychologically addicted to marijuana), then chrystal meth, eventually even heroin for over twenty years. I couldn't hold a job, an apartment or a girl, not to mention that I wrecked every car I ever owned. I was in an out of trouble, in and out of jail, even doing prison time in Ohio and in Texas.

When I finally wised up, the biggest and most important step was moving and cutting off my old so called friends. As soon as I found new people to spend time with, things started looking up.

I started staying out of trouble, not drinking or doing drugs. I started taking care of myself better. I started dressing better and paying attention to the way I looked. And best of all I started to enjoy life more. The list of improvements in my life after making that change continues to this day.

Don't end up like your loser friends!
Most of my old friends are either in prison or dead now. The ones that aren't still can't keep a job, much less money in their pockets. When I do occasionally run into them, it never fails that they try to "borrow" a buck off of me. And I know if I were still hanging around with them, I wouldn't be doing any better. That is, if I were alive at all.

The moral of the story is that changing who I hung out with changed everything in my life for the better. Sure, everything isn't peaches and cream. I still have problems like everybody else. The difference is, I no longer feel the need to escape from my problems, because I know I can master anything life throws at me. Mastering problems is what life's all about. There is no feeling greater that the satisfaction of overcoming a problem.

Some people are good for us, some are not, writes Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, in their book, Safe People: How to Find Relationships That Are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren't. Safe people are people who help drive emotional healing and character growth.   

Tell me Who You Hang with and I'll tell You Who You Are

Picking positive friends is the key to success
If you surround yourself with negative, unsuccessful losers you'll begin thinking, talking, acting and ending up like them. Usually, without ever knowing what hit you!

On the other hand, if you surround yourself with positive, successful winners, you'll begin to think, talk, act and end up like them too. It will happen so fast, you'll never even realize it until you unexpectedly hit your first big break!

Those we surround ourselves with influence us on a subconscious level, whether we want to admit it or not, because our minds are programmed to learn like this. No matter who you hang out with, you always take a piece of that person with you when you leave. 

Do you see like what you see?
Now in the moment of truth, I want you to take a good look at yourself in the mirror. Do you like who you see looking back at you?

Then, take a good look at the five people you are closest to. See a resemblance?

Tell me who you hang with and I'll tell you who you are!

Even if you aren't hanging out with people who are getting into trouble, stealing, doing drugs, or whatever, ask yourself:
Are the people you are surrounding yourself with a positive influence on you becoming the best, most successful and happy person you can be? Or are they holding you back?
Now that you have been confronted with yourself, I think you know what you need to do. Its not rocket science. However, if you are like me and you always seem to end up with bad friends and worse partners, Safe People: How to Find Relationships That Are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren't provides practical ground-breaking help which lays a firm foundation for personal growth. This book shows how you too can find the people who will help you down the path to healing and void those who may damage your emotional health.

If you surround yourself with good, successful, positive people and YOU WILL become one as well.

If you have any examples of how "bad friends" led you down the wrong path, Addicts Not Anonymous fans would love to read all about it in your comment, bellow.

Written By: Tom Retterbush



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Comments

  1. Tom -

    This is SO true. In high school I had a good friend who also hung around with a different circle of friends besides our own... The other circle were drug users, we were not - soon enough, she decided that she wanted to follow that path and chose the other group over us, and would only hang out with us when the others weren't available. It's sad, but it happens all the time!

    :( -June

    ReplyDelete
  2. I always hung out with bad kids, drug users but funny and musically or artistically talented. They got bad grades. i never used or use drugs, I got top grades, I just di not like the narrowness and snobbery of the "good" kids, I had no musical talent. I let my artistic talent wither in favor of being good at school - not good.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I absolutely agree with you, If you want to be successful hang with those successful people, because you can get their energy and you will have great believe in yourself that you can do want you want to achieve and achieve it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with you 100%. You're definitely stuck to rot if you surround yourself with people who are not motivated to succeed in life, to work and save for the future, or those who are in deep alcohol and substance abuse.

    Make the right choice to change your life yourself, rather than letting the people you hang out with make that choice for you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We all want to succeed, but not everyone has the inherent habits or personality to do so. These things can be learned

    Check out my article

    http://dipqa.com/view/dips/65/21-identified-secrets-how-to-successful-anything-life/

    Thanks
    Dan

    ReplyDelete
  6. THIS IS BEAUTIFUL, IM A TEENAGER AND I THINK THIS IS SUCH MOTIVATION

    ReplyDelete

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