Increasing Your Average
By Mark Inboden
If you are a sports fan, the title of this blog post most likely made you think about a “batting average” or “points per game average," or perhaps some other numerical average that reflects a player's abilities. That’s the way I would have thought if I hadn’t come across this quote from motivational speaker Jim Rohn, who passed away in 2009. He said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
Think about the five people you spend the most time with at work. Are these five helping you increase your “average," or are they holding you back and really keeping you an average salesman, manager or production worker? I think Jim was telling us to take an inventory of our skills, and surround ourselves with people who can make us better and improve ourselves.
It would be great to totally surround yourself with all the “top performers;" people who are positive and successful all of the time. That is not always possible, and might not be the best for what you need right now. People who can provide you with open, honest and critical feedback that will make you more successful are really valuable. You want at least one of those people in your five.
What you don’t need is negative talk and criticism that leads to more negative talk and criticism. You know who these people are at work, and they just want to keep your “average” down so they can have company being below the “average."
Take a few minutes in the next day or two to evaluate "your" five people and what they contribute to your average. Ask yourself if they are the best people to help raise your average, or do you need to make a change to increase your “average” and then, in turn, your success in your job? This process might take a while, but it might be clear that spending your time with people with a higher “average” will raise yours.
For more Jim Rohn quotes, click over here.
Mark is the President and CEO of UCEC.