Why environment dictates performance in business and in every area of your life

A well known quote by Jim Rohn, introduced to me by Matthew Michalewicz in a presentation on his book, ‘Life in Half a Second — How to achieve success before it’s too late’. Of course the well known phrase, ‘you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with’ is, absolutely, true.

No matter how big or audacious your goals are (and the more precise and more visible they are the more likely you are to achieve them), never forget there are people in the world who have achieved similar or far greater, far more audacious goals than yours. So if you have any doubts about whether you can achieve them, just remember there is a system, a formula, a method for achieving anything. Surround yourself with the people who have executed the formula you need, learn it, adopt it and then go out and replicate it.

As for the naysayers? Well for every person you come across who shares your belief for what you want to achieve, you’ll find 10 people who don’t. You’re entirely a product of your environment, so surround yourself with people who have achieved similar goals, or are aspiring to achieve the same or even bigger things than you. You will naturally start to think like them, talk like them, act like them and achieve similar things to them. I understand that sounds so simple you’d naturally be skeptical. Intuitively it makes sense, yet rationally you’re entitled to think there must be more to it.

However, the most powerful decisions you make in your life can’t logically be explained. Why did you marry the person you married? Try and explain it using reason and logic (language) and it will make your marriage and feelings for that other person sound hollow and sterile. Instead, you know it just feels right and it doesn’t need further explanation than that. Apply the same principle to explaining why building an environment of high performance around you is the single biggest contributor to your success and you will likely have a hard time justifying it. But if the concept feels right, then just run with it and ignore the naysayers. Besides, they’re too busy losing in life anyway.

At Dent we believe a high performance business environment has these characteristics:

1. Best practices and proven strategy — to avoid trying to grow by trial and error
2. Peer support — to normalise a high level of performance and output.
3. Accountability — to avoid procrastination and keep you focused.
4. Access to resources — to help you get stuff done and build valuable business assets
5. Common goal — everyone striving towards similar outcomes and ideals.

So if you find yourself surrounded by people who are pitching negativity and a small world view — run. They’re not your people.

Instead look for 5 of your most admired and respected people (as defined by the people who have achieved the level of success you want to achieve), work hard to join their inner sanctum and then eventually you will naturally float up to their level of success…