Hustlers don’t spend time with people with low personal standards. They don’t spend time with cynics, critics, has-beens, never-will-be’s, or slackers. They don’t spend time with people who have allowed their minds to be infected with negative and self-limiting beliefs. Hustlers don’t hang around with people who are hurting themselves or others through their behaviors.
You see, hustlers have high personal standards. They impose a higher standard on themselves because they expect more from themselves.
Hustlers surround themselves with two kinds of people: those who have arrived and those who are going places.
Model Success
Hustlers spend their time with people who have the life that they want. They spend with people who have achieved some level of success so they can learn from, so they can model them.
Hustlers don’t measure their own success against those who are not doing as well as they are. That doesn’t make a hustler feel good about themselves or their achievements. Instead, they measure their success only against those who are still in front of them. They believe that if someone else has found a way to achieve something, that something is also possible for them–if they work harder, smarter, and follow the model.
Hustlers are inspired and motivated by people who succeed. That’s who they spend their time with.
Brothers and Sisters of the Path
Hustlers spend time with the up-and-comers, the other hustlers who are going places. They immediately recognize brothers and sisters of the path.
Other hustlers may be working to achieve a different goal, but the fact that they have set their sights on that goal, that they have raised their personal standard, and that they are grinding a way to make their vision a reality makes them a brother or a sister.
Brothers and sisters of the path support each other. They share their experiences. But more important still, hustlers remind their peers that their vision of themselves is still too small and that they are capable of even more. Each hustler is there to remind another that she can succeed beyond anything she has yet imagined, even if that vision is already enormous.
When you were young, it’s likely your parents were concerned about who your friends were, who you spent your time with. They knew then that you would adopt the beliefs–and the behaviors–of the people you spent time with. That belief is as true today as ever.
Hustlers raise their own standards. They spend time with people who inspire them, challenge them, and support them. They never lower their standards or spend their time with people who have lowered theirs.
