Episode 533 · Feb 17, 2022

Why Who You Surround Yourself With Defines Your Life

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George Wright III opens this episode of The Daily Mastermind with a direct warning: be careful who you surround yourself with. It sounds simple, but most people have never actually stopped to audit their inner circle. Your network is your net worth, and the quality of the people closest to you will quietly determine the quality of your life.

In this episode, George shares his own perspective on the difference between surrounding yourself with successful people versus positive people, and why that distinction matters. He also brings in a powerful recorded message from the late Zig Ziglar, one of the most respected voices in personal development, on how to build a winning self-image through intentional association.

Why Positive People May Matter More Than Successful Ones

George makes a point worth sitting with: you probably know people who are successful but not happy, not fulfilled, and not particularly positive. Success alone does not automatically transfer energy, encouragement, or belief into your life. Positive people do.

"Positive people will influence your life and they'll provide you with far more benefits than just success alone."

The ideal is both, of course. But if you are building an inner circle from scratch, lean toward the positive. People who carry a genuine sense of possibility will elevate your thinking and your self-esteem in ways that a high-earning but chronically negative peer simply cannot.

How to Audit Your Inner Circle Right Now

George offers a practical and surprisingly revealing exercise. Open your text messages and scroll through. Who are the people you communicate with most? Who are you physically spending time with? That list is your real inner circle, not the aspirational one in your head.

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. That is not just a motivational phrase; it is a reflection of how human beings absorb mindset, habits, and expectations from the people around them. If that average is not where you want to be, that is information you can act on.

What to Do When Your Environment Feels Fixed

Many people feel stuck because their current circumstances, their neighborhood, their job, their family, seem to lock them into a certain social world. George addresses this directly: you can get around the right people, you just have to make the effort.

And if physical proximity is a barrier, proximity of mind still counts. The podcasts you listen to, the videos you watch, the books and audios you consume: these are forms of association too. Surrounding yourself with the right voices, even recorded ones, shapes your thinking over time.

Zig Ziglar on Association and the Winner's Mindset

George shares a clip from a speech by Zig Ziglar that illustrates the power of association with memorable clarity. Ziglar tells the story of two women in a cafeteria: one who has given in to negativity and cannot be reached, and one, a woman in her seventies, who responds to a simple greeting with pure joy.

The older woman's secret? She refuses to spend time with the negative crowd.

"If I spend the time with them, I'd be just like they are."

Ziglar's conclusion is direct: you become part of what you are around. If you want to be a winner, make it your business to get around winners. Let them put the right things into your mind. The alternative, spending your time with people who gripe, complain, and see only obstacles, will erode your outlook no matter how strong you think you are.

How to Build a Healthy Self-Image Alongside Better Associations

Ziglar's message in the episode goes one step further. Association alone is not enough; you also need to build an honest inventory of your own positive qualities. Write down what you have: your honesty, your loyalty, your persistence, your care for others. These are real assets.

"When you take inventory of all of your assets, they're enormous."

On the days when doubt creeps in, that list is your anchor. Read it. You cannot be all bad if you carry integrity, faithfulness, and genuine love for the people in your life. Winning starts in the mind, and building a clear picture of your own strengths is the foundation.

Why This Connects to Self-Esteem and Long-Term Success

George ties these threads together by pointing out that the people you surround yourself with do more than affect your mood. They shape your self-esteem over time. A positive environment builds a more resilient, confident sense of self. And that self-image, your internal picture of who you are and what you are capable of, is one of the most important ingredients in any lasting success.

This is why the prosperity pillar George refers to focuses on positive people, not just successful ones. Positivity is the carrier signal for all the other qualities you want to absorb.

Action Steps

Open your messages and scroll through your most frequent contacts. Ask honestly: are these people lifting you up or pulling you down?
Identify one or two people you want more of in your life, people who are positive, successful, or both, and make a deliberate effort to spend more time with them.
If your physical environment limits your options, choose your audio and video inputs with the same care. What you listen to daily shapes you.
Write down five to ten of your genuine positive qualities. Keep the list somewhere you can find it on a hard day.
Make a short list of your victories, moments when you rose to a challenge. Refer back to it when you need proof of what you are capable of.

You do not need a dramatic overhaul to start improving your associations. One better conversation, one better podcast, one honest inventory of your own strengths: that is enough to begin. It is never too late to start living the life you were meant to live.

READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT

All right, welcome back to The Daily Mastermind. George Wright III here with your daily dose of inspiration, motivation, and education. Today I want to talk to you about a warning, and the warning is to be careful who you surround yourself with. You've heard me talk about the phrase, your network is your net worth, and you've also heard me talk about prosperity pillars, and how to surround yourself with positive people. But I really want you to think about today who it is that you surround yourself with. What type of people are you surrounding yourself with? Are they positive people? Are they successful people? You know, I've had a couple of people ask me over the last year or so, why does the prosperity pillar that I created say, I surround myself with positive people? And why doesn't it say I surround myself with successful people? Well, what I've learned over time, and this is from my own personal experience, this is my opinion, as well as things I've learned from my mentors, is you probably know as well as I do individuals that are successful, but are not always positive. And those successful people are not always fulfilled and happy as well. However, you also probably know positive people. And it's very, very easy to get a transfer of energy and excitement and motivation from positive people. And so I believe you want to try to surround yourself with both, obviously positive and successful people. But positive people is a real key because positive people will influence your life and they'll provide you with far more benefits than just success alone. And that's my opinion. But it's also very important that you just take a little inventory. Take an inventory of who is your surrounding? Who are your top three, four, five people? A great exercise I do every once in a while is I'll go into my text messages and I'll just scroll through. Who are the people that you are talking with? Who are the people you are around? Who are the people you surround yourself with? Because you're going to be the average of the five people that you surround yourself with. And if you want to surround yourself or if you want to create success, fulfillment, happiness, positivity, motivation, inspiration, you've got to surround yourself with those kind of people. And I know many of us feel like our environment and our circumstances keep us sort of pigeonholed into certain areas. But trust me when I say you can get around the right people, you just need to make the effort. And even if that's surrounding yourself with the audios and videos and podcasts or whatever it is, you need to make that attempt to really truly surround yourself with the right people. And in addition to the positivity, inspiration, the success, happiness, positive people will help you to develop a more positive and endearing self-esteem and even self And your self is going to be so important It a key ingredient to success And we going to cover this a little bit more over future podcasts But what I want to do today is I want to share with you just a short audio, an audio from a mentor of mine, an individual that's actually spoken for me several times over the years. He's no longer with us, but he was a master at motivation, positive attitude, and his name is Zig Ziglar. And for those of you that know Zig Ziglar, you know he's always talked about being a winner and how to be a winner. And one of his books, See You at the Top, is one of my all-time favorite classics. But to be a winner, you've got to have, number one, a positive self-image, and number two, you've got to get around the right people. And I believe these two things go hand in hand. And I want to share with you an audio of Zig talking about these things in particular in a speech that he gave at one of the events. And I hope you find it inspirational and entertaining. He really was an amazing individual. He's one of the greats. And so I hope you have an amazing day. But without any further ado, here is Zig Ziglar talking about surrounding yourself with positive people and developing a positive self-image. What I'm really saying is that Charles Dickens, many years ago, said that no one is useless in this world of ours who lightens the load of it for somebody else. When you're doing something for somebody else, you are performing a useful service and you're going to feel better about yourself. Help somebody because it's impossible to row somebody across the river without going over there yourself. Yes, you can get everything in life you want. If you will, just help enough other people get what they want. And then the next step to building a good, healthy self-image is be careful of whom you associate with. A few months ago there in Dallas, Texas, an associate of mine and I were on our way down to close by city. We stopped in the cafeteria to catch a bite of tea. As we walked down the line, I years ago started saying something to every person in a cafeteria line. When my youngest daughter was 16 years old, the only job she could get was at a cafeteria, and I really got a lot of insight into what goes on in cafeterias. So I made a determination that I would never go down the line again without saying something to the people who were there. Well, the guy in front of me apparently had the same thought in mind because he was talking to the lady as I came into view. And I don't know what he said, but she responded by saying, yes, this has been one of those days. And I looked at her and I kind of grin and I said, yes, it has been absolutely fantastic, hasn't it? And she looked at me and she said you have been out in the sun too long And I said no I haven been out in the sun but I have been overseas And I've seen the way much of the rest of this world lives. And I happen to know that there are millions and millions of people who would love, dearly love, to change places with you. You're young. You're attractive. You've got a job. You've got your health. You've got a nice place to work. You've got a future, and you live in America, which means that your opportunity is in your own hands. I said, now that you've thought about all of that, you do feel better, don't you? She said, you are sick. I never dented her at all. You know, they say a message goes around the world, 24,000 miles in less than a second, but sometimes it takes years to go that last one-fourth of an inch. I made no progress whatever with that dear lady. We went on and sat down and we're having our lunch. And a little lady about 70, maybe even 75 years old, came by serving the extra tea. And so I said, how you doing? And she looked at me, most beautiful grin I think I have ever seen. And she reached over and she kind of touched me on her shoulder. And she said, honey, if it is any better, I think the deck was stacked. Now I said, why don't you go talk to those ladies on the serving line? And her response was answered. Oh, no. She said, never, never, never. She said, if I spend the time with them, I'd be just like they are. Now, I don't know how many psychology books she's been reading, but she's right on, absolutely on the button. you become part of what you are around. If you want to be a winner, you make it your business to get around winners. You're what you are and where you are because of what's gone in your mind. Winners are going to put the right thing in your mind. If you want to lose and keep on losing, you just get around the gripers and the complainers and the bellyachers and let them talk to you enough about inflation and the high interest rate and all of the troubles that they are having and let them dump the garbage in and dump the garbage in. And I can guarantee you it's just a question of time before you buy what they're selling. If you want to build that image, you associate it with winners. I think the classic example about how we become part of what we're around has to do with the example, and most of you have heard it, how you can take a southern boy or girl and send them up north or out west, and it's just a question of time before they'll pick up an accent. I figured most of you would notice that okay Or you can reverse it You can take a northern or western boy or girl and send them into the south and pretty soon we'll have them talking normally. Now, there are a lot of people who think losing is normal. It is not. That is a departure from the norm. Winning is the normal thing. And I'm going to tell you, you associate wherever you go with winners, and that's absolutely the way to become a winner. The next step to building a good, healthy self-image is you need to get a card out or probably take a sheet of paper and list all of the positive qualities that you have about yourself. So you've got to make a decision. Am I for me or am I against me? You got to make that decision. Now, let me give you some things that you can list as being good qualities. If you're honest, write it down. I'm honest. If you have character, write it down. I have a strong character. If you have integrity, write it down. I have integrity. If you're faithful, write down. I am faithful. If you're loyal, write it down. I'm loyal. If you're dependable, if you show up on appointments and for work on time, write it down. If you're persistent, if you hang in there, write it down. If you're enthusiastic, write it down. If you're optimistic, write it down. If you really love people, write it down. If you really care about our country, write it down. If you really are willing to make a contribution, write it down. When you take inventory of all of your assets, ladies and gentlemen, they're enormous. List your positive qualities. And then if you ever have a little down moment, you simply get those positive qualities out and say, hey, I'm honest and I have cared and integrity and faith and love and loyalty and I'm dependable. Read them out. And then you've got to be able to say, hey, I can't be all bad if I've got all of these qualities. Want to build a health to self-image? Why don't you make a list of all of the victories you've enjoyed in your lifetime? If you passed a course which they said you could not pass, why don't you write it down? If one time you defended a youngster from getting beaten up by the school bully, write it down. All of your victories, you need to list them. Whatever your victories are, you need to write them down over and over and over. You see, if you want to be a winner, then you've got to concentrate on the things that you've been winning at. Thank you.