I just got done with a conference called “The Thousand Year Brand.” It was put on by a consulting firm called Tricycle. It was very interesting and was worth every penny that I paid to attend. During the conference, one of the speakers, Justin Foster, spoke about how the people within your circle and their actions can often reflect on you, either positively or negatively, just because of your association with them. I’ve found this to be true as well and I have always been diligent to pick my associations wisely, but I have come at it from a different direction.

I learned a lot of these lessons from my struggle to become sober fifteen years ago. When I quit drinking and found AA, they told me that I would have to find new associations. I pretty much took that for law and followed through. As my head began to clear, I realized that I was hanging with a lot of people only for what they had to offer me (drugs, booze, cable TV, etc.), as opposed to hanging out with them because of the people they actually were. I led a life that was very selfish and self serving.

I am still aware of these situations today. If the only thing that someone has to offer me is a way to make money and I don’t truly enjoy their company, then that is an automatic red flag to me. I have had to train myself to not associate with those people and just move on and meet the next person. There are simply too many amazing people that I meet to settle for doing business with the ones that I don’t jive with ethically, morally and spiritually.