“Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better be alone than in bad company.”
George Washington

Have you ever once considered how much the people you tend to associate with influence the type of life you get to lead? If you’re like most of us, you’ve probably not given it much thought. Your friends are your friends and you generally accept them for what they are — for better or for worse. But if they are of the worse variety, you may wish to reconsider the type of association you have with them if you truly want to accomplish all of your hopes and dreams and here’s why.

Like it or not, the company you keep has a direct bearing on how far you go and how high you fly in life. If you consistently hang out with people who are in the down and out mode, constantly complaining about what they don’t have and what they can’t do, you place yourself in grave danger of sinking under the weight of their relentless negativity. After all, it’s nearly impossible to stay up when everything around you is about as low as it can go.

These doom and gloom individuals are going no place in particular and if you’re not careful, they’re going to take you along for the ride. And unless you’re interested in spending the rest of your life right where you find yourself today, you’re going to have to make some changes, including the selection of people you allow to enter into your inner circle of influence.

“You will always have to live with yourself, and it is to your best interest to see that you have good company — a clean, pure, straight, honest, upright, generous, magnanimous companion.”
Orison Swett Marden

Good companionship is an absolute must if you aspire to walk in the rarified air that champions tread. And that sort of good company always begins and ends with you. That’s right; if you don’t emit a steady beam of positive powered optimism and excitement on those all around you, how can you expect to attract people who can help you attain your personal goals and objectives? In a word, you can’t.

Winners are attracted to winners, so in order to surround yourself with a winning combination of self starters and positive charged players, you need to make certain that you exhibit the traits that turn the right people on and not turn them off. And the best place to start building that super strong power group that can literally turbo-charge your trip to the top is with the one person you have the most influence over — yourself.

"If you are lonely when you are alone, you are in bad company."
Jean-Paul Sartre

The minute you make yourself the type of person others want to be around, you’ll discover that there is never any shortage of good, positive, enthusiastic folks who’ll want to join in on the fun. And since you never want to make the same mistake twice; please make certain that the people who enter your inner sanctum are the kind of people who constantly build you up, assuring you that it can be done and that you’re the one to do it.

Hey, given the choice, wouldn’t you much prefer to spend your time in the presence of optimistic, upbeat people, people who look for the sunny side of life than mingle with a bunch of whiners and complainers? Well, you get to make that choice each and every day. So what kind of choices have you been making?

"Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter."
Izaak Walton

Does this mean you have to dump all of your friends who don’t make the grade? No, not necessarily. But you better believe that negative people can and will drag you down if you’re not careful. And like it or not, constantly associating with doom and gloom individuals will eventually cast a dark and depressing cloud all around you, ultimately pulling you down like an anchor around your neck.

Doesn’t it make sense that if you want to accomplish some truly amazing things in your life that your chances are much better if you join forces with some truly amazing people? And if you want to accentuate the positive possibilities life persistently presents, wouldn’t you agree that your chances are much better if you surround yourself with extraordinary people seeking to make the remarkable come to life?

Upbeat individuals who encourage you and make you really believe that you can do it sure beat the heck out of those who systematically siphon your energy and will to win, don’t they? And optimistic folks who can uncover that resplendent ray of hope in even in the most desperate of times are just what you need to take you to the next level of achievement, wouldn’t you agree? Incredible people who pump you up and never bring you down are the kind of people you need to hang out with — starting today!

So what’s holding you back? What is preventing you from living the life you have always dreamed of living? Hopefully it’s not the company you keep.

The Bottom Line: You can go anywhere you truly desire, but you cannot get there by yourself.