Are these people who are lifting you up or pulling you down?
Are these people who ask you uncomfortable questions and help you re-think your points of views and perspectives or are these people who just smile and ignore?
Are they folks who hang around only to have fun or stay back to clean after the party’s over?
Are these folks who only care enough to put paper over cracks that need mending or are they the kind that care enough to help mend these cracks with you?
Are these folks who encourage you to do more and grow mentally, physically, emotionally and physically or ‘having fun’ all they care about?
Do you spend more time hanging around with the ‘stars’ of their own fields and organizations, with those that inject energy and enthusiasm, with those that do and think ‘action’?
There are 2 big myths that are prevalent when we talk about company –
1. Growth and learning can’t be fun.
2. True friends don’t make the other person uncomfortable.
Remember when we were kids?
When every new thing we learnt gave us incredible joy, when every question we asked led to another and then, to another?
When our relationships with our friends in the playground were just incredibly simple?
We may find some answers there.
The simple fact is that who we are is determined by who we spend time with. We can choose to spend time with people we can learn from, or not. We are constantly making choices – when we choose a movie over a book, we choose Will Smith over a Richard Feynman or a Napoleon. Just because it isn’t obvious doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
Like all things, it’s a choice. And like all things, it’s all about finding a balance. And like all things, it matters that we make the effort.
A Learning a Day 