Discriminate - and prevail!

What shapes and changes us more than any other thing? I can tell you that it is not wealth, it is not renown, it is not luck, it is not even hard work ... it is, in many ways the most obvious thing of all ... other people; and more particularly, those people we spend time meaningful time with.

I am not necessarily referring to those people we spend most of our time with - (often co-workers, clients or such) - but those people who we share 'meaningful' time with; it might only be an hour or two a week - or even only a few times a year - or less - that we spend in their company - but time spent well, with the right kind of people can, perhaps more than anything else, determine how our future unfolds ahead of us.

We have all heard the expression - 'don't discriminate' - but seriously, this kind of thinking is what binds people to mediocrity, what leads people to obesity, etc. Not discriminating when it comes to who we spend time with is just like not discriminating between the different kinds of things we can eat; like not discriminating between the different kinds of martial arts we could practise; like not discriminating between different approaches to exercise; between different investments to make; between cars to drive, houses to live in, movies to watch, books to read, etc, etc. We do discriminate, all of us - and we do so at every turn - but think on this ... do we discriminate where it really, really counts?

The new year is upon us ... in most ways, it is just like any other date on the Roman calendar ... but it does represent - if only in a traditional or convenient sense - an opportunity to think ahead; to ask ourselves in what ways do we want our life to unfold that differ from those shaped by the way we lived in the last 12 months. We should all perhaps consider more carefully, who we spend meaningful time with, who we connect with, who we let into (or shed from) our lives ...

Discriminate - and prevail .... in life.
I wish all of you the very best beginning to the new year ...

JBW