“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
– Jim Rohn –
Entrepreneur, Author and Motivational Speaker
No doubt you’ve heard this quote before and probably seen evidence of it in your life and in the lives of others. It’s an application of the law of averages. The big question is, what do you do with it?
Sure, it is useful to help you evaluate your social circle and who you spend time with. It might even help you avoid toxic relationships that are negatively impacting your life.
But what about as a tool for helping you become the person you want to be? Can this simple law help you be more successful, more wealthy, and have a greater impact in the world?
You might be asking yourself how you can take advantage of this law when you don’t know any millionaires or super successful entrepreneurs that you can surround yourself with.
If this is you, then I have one simple life hack that you probably already know about and possibly even use but when you use it in the context of the law of averages it has the power to change your life – it has changed mine.
The beauty of this life hack is that it leverages the idea that to surround yourself with successful people you do not need to be physically in their presence, although that can certainly be powerful. The law of averages does not discriminate between how we surround ourselves. It is a natural law in operation all the time. Indeed, there is a deeper point here that relates to what we spend our time focussing on and not just who we spend our time with. But that is for another article.
So, what is this life hack? What is this simple tool for leveraging the law of averages in your life and so becoming the successful, wealthy and impactful person you were born to be?
Listen to podcasts!
Now before you shake you head in disbelief and click somewhere else let me share a caveat and an explanation.
Not just any podcast will do. You need to find podcasts that share the stories and wisdom of those you want to be like.
For me, it was two podcasts from NPR (https://www.npr.org/) that have, and continue to, impact my life in amazing ways.
How I Built This (https://www.npr.org/series/490248027/how-i-built-this) and
Wisdom From The Top (https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510363/wisdom-from-the-top) .
Now before I continue, I want to be clear that I am not connected with these two podcasts and am not affiliated with them, their host, or NPR in any way. Additionally, I am not saying that these are the only two podcasts of their kind or the only ones that will help you leverage the law of averages. But they have helped me.
As I began to contemplate starting my own business, I was looking for insight and inspiration and stubbled across How I Built This. I would listen to the episodes everywhere! Driving, cleaning the house, making dinner for my family, shopping. Any time that I could do something and listen at the same time I would put the podcast on. I let the stories and experiences wash over and through me. I even went back to the very first of the (at time of writing) 556 episodes and starting listening from the beginning. I surrounded myself with all these incredible guests who had done amazing things and I began to change. I learned from their attitudes, their beliefs, their mistakes, their triumphs. I loved the experience. Here were ordinary people just like me who had built and done amazing things. I was inspired and filled with confidence that I could do what they had done.
When I heard about Wisdom From The Top I started listening from the beginning.
I was benefited from the very first episode. Every episode inspired me to action! I wrote articles. I bought and read books that have changed my life and my business. I learned principles or had principles reinforced. Those stories lit a fire in me that continues to burn today.
I feel I have been tutored and mentored by these incredible human beings. I am so grateful.
Now it’s your turn. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
It costs nothing.
It takes no additional time (as you can often listen while doing other things).
Go find a podcast, where you can surround yourself with the people you most want to be like and watch yourself change.
Be who you were born to be.