A few people have asked me to post about the importance of who you surround yourself with after my post about goals.

I mentioned that at the end of the day everything comes down to you. Which I truly believe it does. However the way we are, and how we behave is a combination of life experiences (and a bit of genetics).

People in life come and go. Life long partners are becoming less ‘normal’ in society; friends can dip in and out of your life; people you live with and work with change. (Oh and people die but we aren’t talking about that here).

I just spent a week staying with a long term friend of mine (we have known each other since we were about 13), but we have gone through periods (at university especially) where we didn’t even talk for years. After one week living together I feel our relationship is as strong as any friendship I have had.

The reason for this bond is no doubt down to familiarity. We have known each other for years and understand one another well because of this. But definitely, and more importantly, it is because we have very similar outlooks on life. We both help to motivate each other with goals, both fitness and work; and we love learning from each other.

If you want to change the people who are bad influences in your life, it comes down to your decision. You can change the people in your life, or perhaps change their outlook so that you get the best out of each other.

I know far too many who hang out with people who are bad influences on their life; they are too lazy to even try anything to improve their own life. An example are drug users who socialise in a similarly minded group; but, at the same time, say they want to stop. If you genuinely want to get out, it comes down to you. You have to do something. Remember why you are getting out of it to keep yourself motivated. Life was never going to be easy, you need to work at change.

Again there are limitations to this (e.g. work, relationships, financial…), but more often than not, the excuses for not doing something are unjust, you are just being lazy. Remember you are in control of your life.

I cannot describe the amount of additional energy that my friend has given me from our chats. I know I am going to be friends with him until the end. It is great to be surrounded by inspiring energetic people.

But also remember: you can’t choose family!