longer.blue

YOU BECOME WHO YOU SPEND YOUR TIME AROUND Your environment is constantly programming you. The conversations you hear, the content you consume and the expectations surrounding you gradually become your own thoughts. If you spend most of your time around people who doubt everything, complain constantly and ridicule ambition, their limitations will begin sounding reasonable. If you spend time around people who believe deeply, act courageously and take responsibility for their lives, those qualities become more natural to you. That is why reading matters. You may not be able to spend every day physically surrounded by extraordinary thinkers, coaches and creators—but you can spend time inside their minds through their writing. If my ideas help you develop more belief, clarity, joy and action, don’t read them once and immediately return to an environment that reinforces your old identity. Return to the ideas. Study them. Test them. Write about them in your own words. Apply them until they become part of how you live. Compare ideas. Question them. Test them against reality. Keep what makes you stronger, wiser and more loving. Reject what fails the test. The goal is for the right ideas to become louder than the fear, negativity and conditioning that have controlled you. Choose your environment carefully. Choose your influences consciously. Then become such a powerful influence that your presence begins elevating everyone around you.