#PNN E-Mentoring (Yoma Victor): Seeing With Your Mind – 4

It is said that “you are the same person you were five years ago except for two things – the books you have read, and the people you have met”. Two weeks ago, we dealt with books, and how much books can change our perceptions and paradigms. Books are a depository of  valuable information, ideas and experiences condensed into a few pages. Today we explore the second manner we can employ to feed our minds – meeting people.

Meeting new people has a way of changing you; encountering people with a great sense of purpose, clarity, drive and passion has a way of making you into the kind of people they are. Character, attitude, charisma is contagious. The bible says “he that walks with the wise will be wise”. Show me your friends and I can accurately predict your future. Those you surround yourself with matters a whole lot. Your life will go in the direction of those you surround yourself with.

Your network is directly proportional to your net-worth. Do not let anyone deceive you by telling you, different. Building a network is big business. Networking is a full time. Robert Kiyosaki says “the wealthy look for and build networks…”. Note the operating words there “…look for and build..”. Two good heads are better than one; you must be deliberate about those you associate with. It is said that you are not really richer than those you surround yourself with, when four friends move together, there is the likelihood that they will all fall around the same income bracket. If anyone of them wants to increase and get richer, he will need to break from that circle and get a new network; now I said ‘get a new network’ not ‘get new friends’.

Getting deliberate about your network doesn’t mean you should not be friendly with people. It is not saying you should treat people badly or disrespect your close circle of friends whom you grew up with. You should be their friends, you should be nice and warm and cordial with them, but when it comes to the issues of purpose, destiny, dreams, character, integrity, and making the most out of your life, if these long time friends are not going in an upward direction, then you owe it to your life to link up with those who are going somewhere.

The truth about life is that we do more good to the world and those around us when we make the most of ourselves.