Use This Technique to Associate With More Successful People
At some point, most ambitious people realize that they have to look at where they are spending their time and who they are spending it with and determine how to upgrade to the practices and people that will help them achieve their goals.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is fond of saying that if you find that you are the smartest person in the room, go find a bigger room. Coming from one of the smartest investors and businessmen in history, this is a very powerful idea. It is also a strategy that has created some of the most successful people ever.
“You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.”
-Jim Rohn
The idea of associating with people that are smarter and more successful than you is not at all a new one. Harvard University is one of the most prestigious universities in the world and people study and teach there to get an excellent education. They also go there to be a part of a very large group of incredibly successful people. While the education is certainly first-class, the associations created there can shape your life and career in an amazingly positive way.
Imagine if you are a business student and your teachers and classmates are associated with some of the most successful companies and graduates in the business world. You are bound to be exposed to those people and institutions and are much more likely to go on to great achievements. Being a part of that winning environment is probably going to bring out the best in you as well as get you used to associating with other high achievers.
Prestigious universities are certainly one place to meet successful people. Various kinds of clubs have existing since time immemorial and they are another excellent way to meet like minded individuals who want to succeed at a particular endeavour.
Masterminds are also very effective for this. These are groups that are set up specifically for the advancement of the whole membership. The great thing about them is that the main objective of the group is clear and there are members who are at different levels of achieving that goal. The newest members learn from the veterans and the veterans become better by teaching what they know and learning of newer techniques and ideas from the whole group.
If you are unable to use one of these methods, one of the fastest and easiest ways to “change room” is to set up your own mastermind. Machiavelli famously did this every night when he went into his study, put on his finest clothes and had deep “discussions” with some of the greatest minds in history. Now these were not actual discussions, of course, but he consumed the books and ideas of these great thinkers and thought deeply about what these all meant to him and his success.
While there is no substitute for having a group of people we share ideas with, any one of us can use this same technique today by researching the ideas and information of the people that we most want to emulate until we can become part of a group. The internet is full of knowledge that we can use for this exact purpose.
By “finding a bigger room”, we can have the benefit of the advice, knowledge, guidance and encouragement of those who are more advanced than us and who can help us achieve much greater heights than if we attempted it alone or with the wrong group.