Just an easy math problem for you – SCN Encourager 6/17/2013

Even if you flub up the math, you won’t miss the point.

Jim Rohn had a rags-to-riches, re-start and re-build life.

Until he died at age 79 in 2009, his story – and way he told it throughout his adult life– was a source of inspiration to many.

Not to me, though. I hadn’t even heard of the guy until this weekend.

But I’m now going to do some research about him – as it sure beats having to continually research where my golf ball landed. (I don’t like my frequent visits into those marshy woods. Bug City! And my occasional scampers into a different foursome’s fairway are downright embarrassing…)

No doubt about it. Jim Rohn is someone to look into. Starting right here. His observation that “motivation gets you going, but it is your habits that keep you going” make sense, don’t you think?

But this quote hardly requires any brain power from us at all compared to this one from him.

And once again, it’s something I heard on a radio show.

The speaker stated that this Jim Rohn quote changed his life, “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Whoa. Really?

So, this quote caused me to do some honest-to-goodness thinking.

At first, in noticing the first word you’re, I thought this quote was just meant for you, not me. (A twisted dodge to be sure, but hey, it’s always the first one I roll out…)

And then, in having to accept that the word you’re does indeed apply to both of us, I thought the fact that I only have my wife and little rescue dog at home, I’d be disqualified somehow. You know, it’s not like I have “five people” right under the same roof! (And maybe your luck would be similar…)

But no, we all have people and influencers in our lives, and this quote challenges us to identify the five individuals we spend the most time with – wherever they are – and then do the math.

5 people you spend the most time with = the average of you

If this were one of those unfair standardized test questions, I’d ask a state politician to try answering this. I won’t, though.

Figuring out this particular equation for myself actually has merit and really only demands that I calculate an average. The math isn’t the hard part.

But if the next “life equation” from Jim Rohn requires using sines and cosines, count me out!

Tom Page, SCN