Hi everyone,
I have been guilty of being lazy when it comes to blogging. Seems like playing with my infant son Kaleb always takes priority of my extra time…”play with Kaleb”…or…”write a blog article”…so right now he is sleeping and I’m hoping I can finish this article before he wakes up.
I want to discuss a topic that has been very impactful in my life which is The Power of Association. My best friend and mentor Claude Hamilton had mentioned early on in our business journey together that “you become who you hang around with”. And this is very true. Take your top 5 friends and add up their income and divide it by 5 and it will be very close to what your income is. You become who you hang around with! I remember my mother not wanting me to “hang out” with little Johnny after school…because little Johnny was a rebel and broke the rules, therefore I would’ve probably turned into a delinquent myself.
With all kidding aside, we can’t deny the fact that this is very accurate. If you want to change your results you have to change your entourage. For me personally (in my late twenties) it was hard to do because that meant changing my routine and changing my habits that I had formed. But today, I am very thankful I did. Please understand me when I say “change your entourage”…I am not saying to ditch all your friends cold turkey style and tell them they aren’t part of your success journey because they are not winners in life. Easy now, easy big fella! All I’m saying is ask yourself where do I want to be in 5-10 years? And look around and see who has similar results. Who has the fruit on the tree that you are looking for? And chase them down. I saw Claude & Lana Hamilton’s lifestyle of having a great relationship, having way more free time to themselves compared to most people, no financial stress and I wanted to have that in my life!
For most of you, I am sure you’ve already made similar tough decisions like this throughout your life without even realizing it. And you made these decisions to match your final destination, or your goal. For example, when I was in junior high, I played a lot of hockey and one of my best friends at the time didn’t make the team and slowly he started changing his interests. Instead of sports, he started being interested in music. At that age I was in love with hockey and my goal in life was to make the NHL (every Canadian kid’s dream) so I had to make a tough decision. I slowly started changing my association and “hanging out” with boys on my hockey team because we had similar goals & dreams. Another example was in high school. I had one friend who was the video game junkie. We played video games together all the time, but at one point (grade 11 to be precise) I started being interested in girls. So, I had to make a decision: “hang out” with video game junkie friend and have no girlfriend…OR…start changing my entourage of friends and eventually get a girlfriend. It’s scary to say that if I hadn’t changed my association, maybe I’d be still in my parents basement playing video games at 35 years old..LOL!!
So as you see, the power of association does have an impact in everyone’s lives. I suggest you be careful with who you hang around with, because you might end up with their results.
Today I want to finish by recognizing some of my friends who have recently made a change in their lives and starting chasing their personal dreams. Orrin Woodward and Claude Hamilton recently ran a promotion called Operation Advance and invited any qualifiers down to Orrin & Laurie’s Florida residence for the weekend. These qualifiers had some tough choices to make over the past 6-12 months of their lives and slowly started changing their entourage. They believe in the power of association! Cynthia & I want to personally congratulate the following qualifiers for their hunger and determination to fight till the end. Denis & Lisa, Mike & Sonia, Charles & Manon, Jeff & Kim, Pierre & Lise, Andre & Dominique, Paul & Lisa, Troy & Bonnie, Matt & Melissa, Nick & Jessica, Trent & Ann, Jeff & Detry, JL & Nicole, Scott & Andrea and Josh & Ellen. All of us had a blast down in Florida, of course you get a bunch of leaders and strong personalities together, it’s automatically gonna be fun. We visited many parks, shows, entertainment and shopping for the girls, but the highlight of the trip was hanging out at the Woodwards‘ residence. A special thanks again to Orrin & Laurie for setting this up with our teams.
Here is a nice picture of the whole gang together;
And with that, Kaleb just woke up, time to feed & play!!
Love you guys,
Joce & Cynthia
