My Entourage

Articles

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En*tou*rage = A group of people attending or surrounding an important person.

Whether you recognize them or not, you have an entourage.  Whether you believe it or not, you are an important person.  At least, God thinks you are.  One of the most important decisions you will make throughout your life is who you decide to surround yourself with because they will generally be the ones who you allow to speak into your life.  Your friends are either a plus or a minus in your life. They either stretch your vision or choke your dream.

Your entourage will either be by design or by default.  Proverbs 13:20 states “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” Based on this text, your close friends and associates affect you and your future in a very personal manner.  Not going in the direction you wanted to?  You may want to do an assessment of your relational surroundings.  Two points to consider:

1. You think like the people you spend the most time with.  Comments, whether negative or positive, begin to gain traction in your life.  You will begin to feel better about yourself with the right comments, or you will feel like something is wrong with you based on the wrong comments.  It is true that we cannot control what people say about us, but we can control who we allow to get close to us.  Understand that the five people closest to you will determine the direction of your life.  There is an old saying that says, “Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are.”  Running with wolves? You have probably started to howl like them. Associating with eagles? You may be soaring to greater heights than ever before.

2.  You are influenced by the people in your life more than you think. Recent research has shown that a lot of what people desire in life is actually contagious.  For example, if a person is surrounded by people who eat healthy and have some type of exercise regime, they have a much higher chance of doing the same.  I am a testimony to this fact in my own personal life.  A close friend had to change his diet due to certain physical ailments, and as a result, he started to eat better and make healthier decisions on food places.  Since we work together and I wanted to help in his recent changes in diet, I followed.  Without realizing our contributions, we influence each other every day in minor and major ways.  Moreover, I recently read in a business magazine about a study from Stanford University  that found people who had worked with entrepreneurs were far more likely to give up the security of a paycheck and strike out on their own too.  We are always under the influence.

Finally, the less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. True change will have the ability to take place when we are surrounded by the people who support our desire for growth and change.  Remember, your entourage can determine you and your direction.  As you continue to grow and fulfill the destiny God has given you, the company surrounding you may change, but that isn’t always a bad thing.