3/30: WHO DO YOU SURROUND YOURSELF WITH?
In a couple weeks, we will be taking my son up to Mackinac Island where he will be working for Mission Point restaurant for the summer season. We are super excited for him as he starts down the road he wants to travel; working in culinary and literally, travelling. When he started applying for positions, he wanted to do it all on his own. He felt like it was cheating if my wife and I talked to the people we know in that area that could help. I loved the independent nature of what he wanted to do, but he also learned how valuable it is to have people around you that are willing to help. Who you surround yourself with is just as important as what you know, if not more important.
It's hard to think of a day in the 27 months I have been operating Gracie Barra Northville that I haven’t felt incredibly blessed with the people that are around me; coaches, students and parents. I’ve been in plenty of other situations where the people around me were dragging me down, and the problems in those situations overtly affected the people around me, particularly my family and friends. It’s an incredible feeling coming home most every night, fired up and looking forward to the next day. This does not happen unless you have great people around you.
One of the elements of what I consider a true friend, is someone that is going to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Too often in business, we have seen organizations run by a leader and bunch of “Yes Men”, people that got where there are because they simply agreed with the leader, regardless of their true feelings. I have been a part of an organization like that, and I honestly never understood it. I have seen bad decisions carried out simply because people were afraid to be the messenger of bad news. Because that is not how I have ever operated, I never understood how things like that could occur until I really started to understand the various types of personalities that drive that type of response.
“Yes Men” will never force you to grow. Many of you have probably been in class when one of the coaches challenge something I show, or possibly add an improvement. I have been in gyms where that would elicit a severely negative response from the instructor. To me, if knowledge can be improved upon, I welcome the opportunity as long as the information is presented in a positive light and is not meant to purposely attempt to degrade the person presenting it.
Sometimes we are surrounded by people that don’t have our best interest at heart, people that just want to use us, people that are just toxic, people that are simply just there at the time, and people we don’t want in our lives because we think it’s too hard to separate from them. I have experienced them all. But we can also be surrounded by people that just want the best for us, people that support us, people that are happy when we succeed and not jealous, people that are willing to give without expecting anything in return, people that are willing to guide us.
It can be incredibly painful to split from the negative people in our lives because often times that can be family members or friends that you were once close with. Not only have I had to do that in the past, but I now aggressively seek to eliminate those people from my life because the longer they are a part of my life, the longer the pain and damage continues. Separation from people that have been in our lives for long periods of time is going to hurt. In this week of Easter, no one understands that better than Jesus. But when the people around us do not have our best interests in mind, it’s essential that we make the break from them. If the example of my life can be trusted, there is a very good chance that the new people that you allow to come into your life are going to be the type of people that you want because you have made the discernment of who deserves your time.
Who surrounds you? Is it who you want? Are they the type of people you want to become? If so, you are ahead of the game. If not, make the change and start down the road to a brighter, happier future.
