Choose Your Circle

My Professional Tennis Career -

I played competitive tennis for a while. I mean, hang on, not like professional travel all of the place tennis, more like local clubs, playing strangers and trying to move up the rankings to new levels tennis.

This one day, I get to these courts at a prep school near Waterbury CT. Everyone is hanging around and then we head to our designated courts. I lose the coin toss and my opponent is to serve first.

BOOM! His serve comes at me. Slower than freakin’ molasses. I swing at the ball as I normally would. “OUT!” …. ugh.

Next serve, I swear it was even slower. I hit it into the net. “What the heck!!!”

Game lost. Next game my serve. Now I got this. I Rocket a serve over, this guy slices it back to me. Lands in, I swing and boom! “Out!!!”

This opponent was not playing at my level. As a matter of fact, I never played anyone who hit the call so slow. Thing is, EVERY… SINGLE… SHOT… LANDED… IN….

I lost the first set 6 games to 1. I was frustrated and had to do something.

“what did I do?” you ask…

I lowered my play to his level. I started dinking the ball here there and everywhere. Hitting the ball lighter than I hit when warming up but making him run back and forth. I won the next 3 sets in a row because I had to play “his” tennis better than he played “his” tennis.

Now, tennis really has nothing to truly do with what I am getting at. But, it sort of does.

For myself, when playing tennis, if I played someone less skilled, my game would usually suffer and I would end up playing “their” game. When I played someone better, my game actually got better too. I played better across the board.

Now that I made this short story long -

Same goes for your circle. If you have goals of becoming better at something, you should ultimately find a circle in that “something” that is better than you.

If you hang around playing the same D level game that others are playing, you will probably stay at that D level.

The same goes for life, for finances, for real estate, for work, for love, for friendships, for marriages, for eating / drinking habits. The list goes on.

If you want to become a real estate professional, are you going to listen to someone who has no real estate other than their one house or are you going to learn from individuals who are currently successful?

If you want to become better at a sport, level up and start playing / working with those that are better than you.

If you want to become more motivating or inspirational to others, can you do that by surrounding yourself with those that are negative?

If you want to become more in shape, eating better, treating your body better, living better. Are you going to keep hanging out with those that go to the bar every other night or those that go to the gym every other morning?

If you want to be wealthier, don’t hang around and listen to people that are struggling day in and day out of their entire lives. Their habits will never be healthy for you.

Reality is simple, the people you allow into your life are contagious. Choose wisely and cut quickly!

This almost comes down to last weeks post about feeding two wolves. I will link to that in the bottom.

So yea, if you do it now, if you choose those that will elevate you, if you choose to spend time with those that are better than you at what you want to be doing. You too, will become better. I can almost promise you, if you step out of your comfort zone and even ask someone to become your mentor in this process, they would be more than happy!

#findyourtribe

Tips For Building A New Circle

1. Start Small: You don't have to build your circle of friends and mentors overnight! Start small by reaching out to people within your existing networks, like colleagues or classmates. Think linked in, Facebook, local town groups.

2. Look for Mutual Benefits: When you are looking to build relationships with potential friends or mentors, make sure it's a two-way street - both parties should benefit from the relationship in some way.

3. Don't Be Afraid To Ask: Don't be afraid to reach out directly and ask someone if they'd like to meet up for coffee or chat on the phone. It never hurts to ask!

4. Find Common Ground: When connecting with potential friends and mentors, try to look for things you have in common - whether that's a shared hobby, interest or career path.

5. Stay Connected: Don't forget to stay connected and nurture the relationships you have! Try to meet up regularly and keep in touch via social media, email or phone calls. This will ensure your circle of friends and mentors grows over time.

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This is a same community for your heart, mind, and soul.

Before you go into this day, this day we call Monday, it is only a “Monday”because “we” allow a name to dictate how we feel. Much like your past doesn’t define you, Monday’s past also does not define it.

Remind yourself that there are people who aren’t going to make it back home for dinner. There are people who will send their last text, make their last phone call, hug their loved ones one last hug.

So please stop to make sure every action / interaction you make is your best one. And make today the best day because the biggest mistake we almost all make is thinking we have time…

And one last time, just so it hits home “Remind yourself that there are people who aren’t going to make it back home for dinner.”

Keep Shining

~Tim