Success Breeds Success

I’m finding that, visiting my Uncle Neal in Colorado, it’s much easier for me to behave in a success-breeding manner than it is at home. I attribute much of this to the difference in environments. At home, there is a lot of disorder and mess. The atmosphere practically screams “struggle” which is appropriate since we do struggle to get by. It is very distracting, and makes it difficult to focus on improvement, with diversions being much easier to choose. Here at Neal’s house, though, there is an atmosphere of success. The house is clean, large, pretty, and organized. It speaks peace, saying “hey, there’s nothing to worry about here.”

In this peaceful and orderly environment, I’m finding it much easier to focus on updating my LinkedIn profile, growing my network, planning my track for personal growth, and so forth. This is also in large part due to my uncle’s help and guidance, and the fact that I have my laptop set next to his work station at the table. This is just another facet of success breeding more success, though. Neal is a successful engineer and businessman, and his patterns are rubbing off on me as I spend time with him.

This is why people are advised to spend time around and emulating the people they admire and want to be like. Humans are adaptive creatures, and we will always tend to fit in with our environment, be that disorder or successful order. One of the best ways to get ahead in life is, in fact, spending time with somebody who has already made it to where you want to go, or at least a little farther down the road than you are right now.

I believe this is why I’ve been a hundred times more productive during my four-day visit with my uncle than I have been in the past year in my room back home. Secluded in my room, I don’t benefit from the example of a successful person in my life, and my environment leads me to waste time on games and shows rather than spending that time on improving my skills and advancing my career. I’m not saying that time spent on games is completely without worth, but my habits go far beyond recreation, reaching into the realm of binge behavior.

With this insight, I issue a challenge to anyone who feels like they’re “stuck” in their professional life. Find somebody who is farther along your desired career path than you are right now, and spend time with them. Emulate their behavior. Clean up your environment, and designate a space as your work zone. Spend time in that work zone six days a week, taking the seventh day of the week as a recuperation day to be sure that you are fresh for the next week. By spending time around a successful person and by creating a sort of “success space,” you will condition your mind to select successful behaviors rather than wasteful ones.