“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose” - Tennessee Williams

At ‘In Over Your Head’, Julien challenges us to be the leader of our networks towards better achievement.  He doesn’t just challenge us, he says it’s our duty. 

And I couldn’t agree more.  I’ve mentioned before that like attracts like and how we can use this as information to determine where we are in our lives and in our businesses.

Like Attracts Like 

Creative people like creative people. Intelligent people like talking to other intelligent people.  Those who are religious tend to have friends and family who are also religious.  Successful people tend to hang out with other successful people.  

People who are concerned with health and working out?  You got it.  They tend to hang out with people who are concerned with health and working out.

You Say You Want A Revolution

One key to stepping up your game, in your life or in your business, is to find people who already have what it is you want.  This is the model used in everything from recovery programs to Weight Watchers.  And it works.  

Stepping up can be difficult, and messy.  In fact, statistics show that even steak-eating major corporate players who have a heart attack are unlikely to make lifestyle changes that will prevent a second event.  Nine out of ten people who do make these changes are unlikely to maintain them years later.  25% of people who have a heart attack don’t fill their prescriptions and 62% remain at high risk for a second heart attack, largely due to ‘lifestyle factors’.

So Dr. Dean Ornish created a ground-breaking program that resulted in 8 out of 10 of these same types of patients making rigorous lifestyle changes and maintaining them.  How’d they do it?  He pairs them up with others who had similar lifestyles prior to their attack, but who have made and maintained these changes.  

You can apply this to any change you’d like to see, whether it’s lifestyle changes or playing a bigger game in your business.  It works.  

A Little Trick That The Geese Know

What?  Geese?  Yeah. Geese fly in a V-formation. They do this to create an uplift so that the entire formation gets more flying range. 

But here’s something else they do.  The lead goose endures greater wind resistance, just as we do when we step up and lead our networks to bigger and better things.  But when the lead goose gets tired, it shifts back into the formation and another goose takes the lead.  The formation shifts and changes.  Sometimes the goose leads, sometimes the goose follows and encourages the new lead goose to keep up their speed by honking from behind.

So after you’ve stepped up, challenged yourself to lead your network, take a look around and see whose turn it is to develop their own skills and take the lead while you support and encourage from within the formation.  

Before you know it, you’ll not only see the changes you’re desiring in your own life, your whole network will be growing stronger and gaining speed.

Where are the areas where you can lead your network to bigger, better things?

And who can you encourage to step up in their own lives today?

All the best!

deb