Seesaw Attitudes by Jim Stovall

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” One of the best ways to examine our lives is to utilize categories. We can examine our work/life balance by looking at our calendars and reviewing how we spend our time. We can examine our financial success by reviewing our various accounts and updating our investment goals. One of the most important things we can ever examine is with whom we spend our time.

The late, great author and speaker Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” I find this to be among the most profound and meaningful concepts I have ever learned. If we are going to examine the people we spend time with in our lives, it’s important to understand how these individuals impact us.

I believe everyone we meet or interact with makes either a deposit or a withdrawal in our emotional account. There are some people who energize us. They make us feel positive and drawn to possibilities just by being around us. There are other people who deplete us and draw from our emotional accounts. These people make us feel tired or disengaged. It’s important to realize that there are certain family members, friends, colleagues, and contacts who cannot be avoided, but understanding where they fit in the emotional deposit or withdrawal scale will help us determine how we should approach our time together and either maximize or limit our exposure to them.

I’ve always visualized the imbalance between those who drain us emotionally from those who contribute to us positively as a seesaw. There are some people who simply lift us up, while others push us down. Please keep in mind there are always people we are mentoring or those who are less fortunate who we are serving. These people can make a positive impact on our lives regardless of their emotional category because we are in a giving mode when we interact with them. The act of giving our time, talent, or resources always has a positive impact on our emotional accounts.

One of the most powerful things you and I can do today to impact our future, is to identify and assess the people who we spend the most time with to determine how they are impacting us.

As you go through your day today, be mindful of the emotional deposits and withdrawals people are making in your life.

Today’s the day!