Power of your CIRCLE

A person sitting next to you on the airplane buys candy. It`s 70 % chance you`ll get it too.

If you are in a team with people who have a negative attitude towards the job, the risk you will see it more negatively too increases.?

If you move to another country, you can soon notice how your accent is changing.

All these examples are of so called "behavioral contagion", which manifests in human`s propensity to copy a certain behavior of others. Interestingly, it can be people who is physically located close to us, people with whom we have the most interaction or in our social media times people whose content we choose to consume.

In very simple terms it`s OUR CIRCLE. It`s actually interesting and scary at the same time, because it can be pulling us up, inspire to grow and support, but it can also bring us down and keep drowning in misery.

?Let`s look at three groups of people you NEED to have in YOUR ENVIRONMENT/CIRCLE (personal and professional):

1. People, who inspire you - GROWING

?Where do I want my life to go? How do I see my career? What is important for me in my personal life?

The importance of role models or mentors in answering those questions is enormous. Having right people to look up to will at the end impacts whether you will get to your desired destination in life or not.

I think, it`s almost impossible to find one person that represents everything we want in life. But nobody sets limitations for you here.

?If you see someone who is really advanced in a particular skill, that you`d like to develop; or somebody is 10-20 years ahead in the career, you are building right now; or maybe someone has created family relationship? you aspire to have - ASK THEM TO GUIDE YOU in any way that is possible. It doesn`t need to be a life-long commitment (even though it can). I`ve had certain mentors/role models, that influenced me in a short period of time and it did change a course of my life.

This accountability and direction can be extremely powerful in you achieving your life goals.

?Don`t forget about the virtual reality in social media, that is very much integrated to our life. There are so many influencers around, whose content you are consuming every single day. At the end of the day THEY are pouring into you, or leading in some way.

2. ?People, who go hand in hand with you - BEING

?Take a sober look on this group. We all have school/university friends, whom we know for million years and feel comfortable with. And sometimes those relationships are for the life. But sometimes we do need to end some of those friendships. There might be situations, when you feel depleted and negative after seeing those people; or you feel judged revealing your dreams/plans.? Whatever it is, don`t ignore it.

?For me this group is not about having only people with a similar social status/career/family situation, it`s about similarities in your core values, it` about unconditional support, readiness to hear your perspective and allowing you to show up as your true self.

?3. People, whom YOU inspire - REFLECTION

The value we get from our experiences is multiplied times when we reflect on it. And one way to reflect is to share it with someone else. Leading/inspiring others might seem so big, but it comes to the fact, that we all have something unique about us, that we might not recognize as such, but for others it can be an added value. You can lead people in so many ways - encourage, support, mentor, live your truth. So many times, when I mentored others on specific situations, I actually had my own a-ha moments.

?No matter where you are now, you can always change the composition of those groups.?? The more diverse those groups, the richer perspective you get in life. There is no one group more important, than others. But having all of them is ensuring your GROWTH, your BEING, and integrating your experience through REFLECTING.

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Do you have all three groups in your life? Does it equally represent your personal and professional life? Any stories you can share from your experience about your circle/environment?