{"id":25235,"date":"2021-05-29T19:56:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-29T23:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=25235"},"modified":"2025-10-03T10:53:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T14:53:01","slug":"how-friends-influence-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-friends-influence-your-life\/","title":{"rendered":"How Friends Influence Your Life: Choose Your Squad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How do friends influence your life? Do you think your friends have a positive influence on your long-term wellbeing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The people with whom you closely associate are critically important because you inevitably end up doing things like them. Have you ever considered how friends influence your life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider how friends influence your life and whether that influence is positive or negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/hub\/personal-life\/relationships\/friendship-guide\/\">Shortform\u2019s guide to friendships<\/a>. If you like what you read here, there\u2019s plenty more to check out in the guide!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-do-friends-influence-your-life\">How Do Friends Influence Your Life?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The people with whom you closely associate are critically important because you inevitably end up talking, reading, eating, thinking, watching, and otherwise doing things like them. According to one expert, your closest associations\u2014your \u201creference group\u201d\u2014 can determine much of your success in life. Jim Rohn says <strong>we are the average of the five people we associate with most.<\/strong>&nbsp;That&#8217;s why you have to think about how friends influence your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our friends influence us subtly yet powerfully, and that influence can be negative or positive. For example, if you hang out with people who order potato skins and other greasy appetizers while gossiping, you\u2019ll soon find yourself joining right in. If, however, you hang out with people who order healthy food and talk about uplifting subjects, you\u2019ll assimilate these behaviors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to possess certain traits, the best way to start is by hanging out with people who already possess those traits. The habits and attitudes they possess will rub off on you, and you can then mirror that success in your own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider the people you spend the most time with and place them into one of 3 categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Dissociations<\/strong>. These are the people you need to cut ties with. They are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/negative-influences\/\">negative influences<\/a> who don\u2019t seem to be growing or changing in a positive direction. When you break away from these people, it won\u2019t be easy. They will resist, seeing your positive direction as a negative reflection on them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limited associations<\/strong>: There are people who are fine to be around for a few minutes, or a few hours, or even a few days, but any more than that creates a dampening influence on you. Look at the people in your life and see if you&#8217;re spending too much time with someone whose contact you should limit.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expanded associations<\/strong>. Find people who have positive qualities in areas of life you\u2019d like to emulate, for example, business success or loving marriages. Make an effort to spend more time with these people, even if you have to go out of your way. Join organizations where the type of people you admire gather. If you admire an author or speaker you don\u2019t have access to, listen to their materials and learn from them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-expanded-associations-mentoring\"><strong>Expanded Associations:<\/strong> <strong>Mentoring<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Finding a mentor is a great way to associate more with an individual whose qualities you\u2019d like to emulate. You are never so good that you can\u2019t benefit from a mentor. In fact, some of the most successful individuals <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/keep-on-learning\/\">keep learning<\/a> from the best coaches and trainers there are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do friends influence your life? Do you think your friends have a positive influence on your long-term wellbeing? The people with whom you closely associate are critically important because you inevitably end up doing things like them. Have you ever considered how friends influence your life? Consider how friends influence your life and whether that influence is positive or negative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,12],"tags":[195],"class_list":["post-25235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-relationships","tag-the-compound-effect","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Friends Influence Your Life: Choose Your Squad - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you considered how friends influence your life? Your friends are very important because you&#039;ll inevitably end up doing things like them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-friends-influence-your-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Friends Influence Your Life: Choose Your Squad\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you considered how friends influence your life? 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