Which five people are you the average of?
Recently I’ve been hearing a lot about a theory made famous by a quote from Jim Rohn (a personal development guru, motivational speaker, and mentor to Tony Robbins).
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn
In today’s three minute thought I’ll lay out how you can use this theory to surround yourself with the best people for helping you succeed.
Be sure to watch it fullscreen and in HD.
(If you can’t see the video you can view it in the original post or on YouTube.)
In this video I discuss how to fill at least three of the five spots with:
- The Drill Sergeant - Someone to keep you accountable and motivate you to push harder towards success.
- The Listener - This person will just simply let you speak your thoughts and give feedback.
- The Mentor - Someone who has been in your shoes before and can steer you clear of making the same mistakes they did.
You don’t need to reach out to new people to fill these roles. Just find people you already know that you can talk to once a month.
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Who are some of the five people you are the average of? What do you think of the five person theory?
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Funny, I’ve also been hearing this quote a lot recently. I’ve been discussing it with my friends and I’m also convinced it’s pretty accurate — it’s also one of the main reasons why I’m looking to make my friend group more entrepreneurial this year.
I’m moving cross-world so i’m definitely going to have to make new friends — just a matter of what kind of people I guess.
Also: how’d you do all the bottom/top features ? Your videos come out sweet man hahah.
Hey Alexander,
Thanks for stopping by. Even if you are across the world you can still stay in touch with people pretty easily nowadays. Just staying in touch via email and Skype can be all the masterminding you’ll need.
As for the videos, I edit them in Final Cut Pro. Learning what I can each new video.
I really believe in the “5 people” rule that you discuss, but I often struggle to find those people, especially in the real world. I’m hopeful that it’ll be somewhat easier when I’m in a different city, but I know that forming online relationships are valuable, too.
As of right now, most of my “five people” aren’t in the same city as me. You can even just have one of them be a one-way street, meaning you read and absorb everything they do, but never come in contact to them.
One of the 5 people I spend the most time with is my 9 year old son. Since birth he’s been someone who can shake off unhappy events and move forward without stewing and brewing. Since I am the complete opposite, I’m so happy I have his influence in my life!
I so agree with your advice about choosing your business mentor carefully. I can’t imagine where I’d be with my business without mine (Carey Peters and Stacey Morgenstern). They rock!
Hey Amy, thanks for the comment.
I absolutely agree. You not only need personal connections, but business ones as well. And children can certainly remind how important continuing to move forward after a fall can be.
While having these people is great you also need to seek out the people to network with and not be afraid to ask for help or referrals Getting out there to events and helping others is a great way not only to meet people but like minded people. One great resource is “meetup.com” where you can meet with people who have the same interest from Wordpress blogging to stocks and Ebay. Having attended a few events it’s great to see what others are doing and cutting the learning experience to a minimum.
I also find that networking at events is great to also stimulate ideas and further contacts that can be future mentors.
Good point Paul. Finding people to meet-up with in person can lead you to connections you would have missed out on otherwise.
Thanks for stopping by.
Interesting concept. I do think that it is extremely important who the 5 closest people in your life are. It seems unnatural to purposely try to fill specific roles though. A mentor is great to have, but I think other people can fill the roles of drill sergeant and listener without it being really being a conscious role. Those roles could be filled by several people at different times.
Great point Jeremy. The “rule of 5″ is not a hard and fast one. You could have multiple people fill a single role. Thanks for sharing.
I like the video so much, Thank you for sharing…
Hi Caleb,
Interesting theories. I never thought about the people in my life that way although it makes perfect sense.
What role do you think you serve for your readers/subscribers?
Will
Mentor, Inspiration, and Coach.