View from the Summit

Upon Ethan’s arrival on the island, Simon told him, “You’ll have to adjust your watch to island time.” He meant less about time zones and more about the pace of living. Ethan noticed Simon’s relaxed manner increased with the laid-back, natural environment.

Ethan asked if time is the primary element of the Influence Effect, the idea that the people you spend time with change you and affect the trajectory of your life. Simon responds that time affects the occurrence, but the primary factor is intensity.

How can you, as a professional, harness this effect to your benefit? As Simon said, “Make more conscious choices about the people you allow to influence you.”

                                                        ...the idea that the people you spend

                                              time with change you and affect

                                             the trajectory of your life.

The Influence Effect

If this sounds familiar, it’s from a popular book called Tribe of Millionaires. The book introduces the Influence Effect as the first principle within its narrative.

Simon, a mentor figure, explains that most people’s income is somewhere near the average of their ten closest friends. He states that the occurrence is also common for a person’s body fat.

On a subconscious level, your environment affects you. It’s always shaping you. The people around you influence how you act, spend your money, dress, eat, and especially how you think.

This unconscious phenomenon is more than peer pressure. People constantly pick up cues from their surroundings. Researchers have found that people even eat more while around others who eat large amounts. The results of influence may be subtle, but the effect is powerful.

Did you know emotional experiences bond people together like a blowtorch bonds two previously unacquainted pieces of metal? Intense, shared experiences, such as when soldiers battle together, create a unique kinship like no other. Even exercise partners and sports teams form strong connections based on shared impassioned or strenuous events.

These types of circumstances all reveal evidence of the Influence Effect. The people you’re closest to WILL change your life… whether you like it or not.

Most people don’t recognize the scope of the influence they ingest from their surroundings. Professionals have this awareness and spend time cultivating their environments. They understand that the community they surround themselves with influences their mindset and success.

To find a community of goal-focused professionals who can help you harness the power of influences in your life, visit our website or apply to join one of our mastermind groups online.

3 Steps to Evaluate the Influences in Your Life

Thankfully, we can use the Influence Effect to our advantage. By selecting the right people to have by our side, we can grow in our personal lives and businesses much faster. Here’s how:

1. Identify the People You Spend the Most Time With

The most powerful influence in your environment is the people around you. Children absorb the behaviors of their parents. Teenagers pick up the attitudes, speech, and mannerisms of their peers. Professionals adopt the mindsets and tactics of fellow professionals.

Get out a sheet of paper (or an electronic document), and write down the ten people you spend time with the most. Don’t stop there. Also, identify some of the ways they have influenced you in the past and how they might be influencing you now. Do you like your answers?

2. Evaluate

American explorer, Dan Buettner, said, “The people you surround yourself with influence your behaviors, so choose friends who have healthy habits.”

How much do you know about the habits of the people on your list? Do they contribute to a pattern of integrity and success? Make sure you’re honest with yourself.

You have to determine which people on your list stay and which ones you’ll let go of. This doesn’t mean you cut off all relationships with them forever; it simply means you give them less and less space in your schedule. You can still respect and honor people while slowly reducing their influence in your life.

3. Find New People with Purpose

You don’t need to forsake your whole tribe of friends and family, but you do want to expose yourself to new tribes. When you begin evaluating your relationships using the Influence Effect, you’ll find no shortage of wonderful influences in your life. Make sure you intentionally cultivate relationships with them.

Find people who line up with your values and goals. Put yourself into situations where you’re the least experienced, leastwise, and have the absolute most to learn. Like I always say, if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room!

And, of course, a fantastic way to ensure you experience the best of the Influence Effect on a regular basis? Joining a Mastermind group and taking part in our events. These are groups of like-minded professionals coming together to make each other better. And what’s better than that?

If you’re interested in learning more about our groups, reach out to us at our website or apply to join one of our mastermind groups online.