The Power of Association
They say that in order to learn how to be a millionaire, you should associate yourself with millionaires. In order to learn how to be fit and healthy, you should associate yourself with fit and healthy people. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If you want to make money, you wouldn’t take advice from a poor person, would you? If you want to be thin, you wouldn’t take advice from a heavy person, would you?
The power of association is a very powerful force that either pulls you closer to where you want to go or pushes you further away. This is common sense for a lot of people, however, we fail to honor its simplicity. Why is this? Unfortunately, we don’t realize his powerful this principle is. We find ourselves at the edge of the cliff and we wonder how we ever got there. How could we possibly allow ourselves to be steered so far off course? Unconsciously, we allowed our influences to quietly nudge us a little bit at a time. This quiet nudging is the effect of neglect. When we neglect to take a look at our associations and assess how healthy and positive they are for our development, the damage can be catastrophic.
An example of this is the story of the 700 pound man. As I hear stories of people who weight 500, 600 and 700 pounds, I seldom wonder how he/she got to that weight. Personal erosion occurs when we do less everyday than we could. This lack of maximum effort and care over time will devastate anyone’s health, business or relationship. When that person reaches for a candy bar and not an apple, he/she is choosing to neglect his/her health. When we choose to have a candy bar today, we choose to weigh too much tomorrow. No one can go from a healthy weight to an unhealthy weight overnight or a surplus to a deficit overnight either. Slow erosion fueled by neglect steers you so far off course, you’ll wonder how you ever got there.
Some people will say, “What’s the big deal?” At the end of the day, it is a big deal. The little adds up and makes the entire picture.
