We’ve all heard the cliché that we become the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Without a doubt, humans are massively influenced by those we surround ourselves with. Hang out with people who drink every day? Chances are, you’ll start drinking every day too. If your friends are workaholics, you’re more likely to be a workaholic. Accordingly, if we improve the quality of our peers, we can improve our own lives.

Of course, it’s not quite that simple. After all, we can’t just get rid of our friends and pick up “better” ones (nor should we want to). We can, however, surround ourselves with greatness by other means. Living in the Internet-era means it has literally never been easier to influence yourself through the positive examples of others. You just need to have the discipline to curate your environment with the right inputs.

Read Books – Especially Biographies

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free” -Frederick Douglass

If anyone knows the value of reading, it’s Frederick Douglass. In an era when teaching a slave to read was considered a major crime, Douglass became a voracious reader, partially through his own initiative and partially through the kindness of his master’s wife. Throughout his life, Douglass maintained that reading and knowledge have the power to free one from their present circumstances and improve their life.

Biographies and autobiographies are incredible resources for exposing yourself to real-world examples of how great individuals dealt with difficult circumstances. Even if you pay full price for your books, where else can you spend $20 and get a deep dive into the life of Abraham Lincoln, Steve Jobs, Andre Agassi, or countless others?

Another big advantage of biographies is they allow you to be mentored by the greatness of people who have been dead for hundreds, if not thousands of years. It’s not quite as good as witnessing events in real-time but it’s not a bad substitute.

Fiction is an underrated resource for surrounding yourself with greatness. After all, what we think of as “history” is usually fictionalized anyway, so why not learn from true fiction? There are tons of fictional characters who can provide positive examples for how we can act in our daily lives and there’s no reason not to learn from them. Books that come to mind are The Martian, the Harry Potter series, and the Hunger Games series.

Listen to Podcasts

If we’ve hung out recently, there’s a good chance I talked your ear off about podcasts. Although they’ve been around for awhile, I’m convinced that the podcast ecosystem is primed for hockey-stick growth. The content available now is just incredible. As more podcasts experiment with non-advertising driven business models, I expect the content quality will only increase.

Some of the best podcasts for exposing yourself to greatness take the form of interviews. Others are of the “lead by example” variety. Here are a few of my personal favorites:

All of these podcasts have deep libraries for you to dig into. Some episodes will really strike a chord – others won’t. Sample a few and discover what gets you going.

The best thing about podcasts is they make the person being interviewed seem more human and normal than articles, books, or video. When you hear incredibly accomplished individuals like Jamie Foxx, Jody Mitic, Lisa Randall, or Naval Ravikant in audio, there’s no embellishment by an author, no makeup turning them into flawless beings, and there’s simply a level of rawness that I haven’t seen elsewhere.

Finally, podcasts are a great way to make your commute useful. It doesn’t matter if you drive, take the bus, or ride the subway to work – podcasts are the ultimate way to turn that dead time into productive time.

Pay Attention to Pop Culture and Sports

I’ll be the first to admit it – the attention we pay to pop culture (and yes, I’m including sports in this category) gets on my nerves sometimes. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be inspiring. I’m far more into sports than music, film, or other types of celebrities but there are powerful examples from every field. To name a few just from football:

Aaron Rodgers going from community college QB to an NFL MVP and Super Bowl winner (I’m biased on this one – Go Pack Go) Lesson: It’s not about where you start, it’s where you end up.

The New England Patriots ridiculous Super Bowl LI comeback win yesterday over the Atlanta Falcons Lesson: It isn’t over until it’s over.

Russell Wilson’s inspiring, Stoic reaction to throwing an interception at the goal line in Super Bowl XLIX, when his Seattle Seahawks lost to the New England Patriots. Lesson: Be resilient when faced with adversity



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I could go on for days with these examples. They are everywhere: basketball, music, books, movies, TV shows, tennis – you name it. It’s easier to surround ourselves with greatness today than at any other time in history. We just need to know where to look.