• Are we affected by the people with whom we associate?
• Do we learn and lose by “osmosis?”
• Can it be that we earn within 10% of the people we spend the most time with?
• Have you noticed that the level of success of a person determines the level of people they attract into their lives?
• Are we, in fact, mental magnets?
• Is it true that we are being contaminated by our surroundings, input, and associations anyway, whether we like it or not, and that we get to choose our contamination?

Of course it is true.

Like Attracts Like

Like attracts like. Opposites repel. We are rightly judged by the company we keep, because your friends tell me who you are.

When someone hosts a Bootcamp, the people in the Bootcamp are a reflection of the quality of the host. People recruit people like themselves – the automatic mirror effect.

The Dangers of Third Hand Smoke

My wife is allergic to nicotine. She sat in the front seat of a car being driven by a friend, and a smoker got onto the back seat, still stinking of smoke from her last fix. Rika’s eyes were red for two days. Even though the smoker wasn’t smoking in the car, it was enough to contaminate the other passengers.

See this article about the dangers of Third Hand Smoke, and ask yourself if you will allow your children into the home of a smoker. Probably not, if you love your kids.

Input Influences EVERYTHING

I am contaminated by the books I read, the movies I watch, the people I meet, and the communications I handle, whether or not I want to believe it to be so.

• Positive contamination propels me like rocket fuel towards my objectives.
• Negative contamination poisons the well, dilutes my efforts, sabotages my work, and drags me in the opposite direction.

When I spend time with winners, I leave feeling buoyed up, motivated, inspired, and enthusiastic. After spending time with losers, I feel like I need ten hot showers and a mouthwash. Purge your life of leeches.

Do These Two Things

Monitor your input / contamination for a week, then do two things: remove bad stuff and replace it with good stuff.

That simple. Not rocket science. Not hard to do.

• Resign, as I did, from organizations, clubs, and fraternities that don’t share your philosophy and aspirations.
• Break relationships off with losers, whiners, parasites, and victims.
• Seek out champions and producers, and build strong relationships with them.
• Read good books.

Before you know it, you will feel like a million bucks. You’ll have more energy, bigger goals, and less frustration. Atlas, don’t hesitate to shrug when it’s appropriate.