Summary: The Power of the Company We Keep One of the most common traits of human nature is the one called reflexivity. It's what we're referring to when we say the phrase "monkey see, monkey do"? It should come as no surprise that people tend to adopt the behaviors, attitudes, and choices, of the things they surround themselves with. This can apply to the books we read and the media we consume. It also involves the people with whom we keep company. Think about it, as a parent, how do you feel when your children begin spending time with questionable friends. Most parents instinctively understand that, over time, their children will being mirroring the actions of their companions. That's the bad news. The good news is that this rule also holds true in the other direction. We tend to become better individuals when we keep better company and absorb better words and ideas. If we have set a goal of moving toward a future of abundance, we have to consider how we intend to get there. This is why it's essential that we carefully assess the people and the ideas that we are inviting into our lives. Whether it's a decade from now or 50 years from now, these choices will have a measurable impact on who we are. In the world, there are individuals who contribute to society and those who take from society. We use other terms like the makers and the takers, or the haves and the have-nots, but we're talking about the same basic division. The main figurative difference between these two groups can be likened to the neighborhoods in which we choose to live. One chooses to live in mindset of abundance while the other takes up residence in a scarcity spiral. Success coach Dan Sullivan points out that the scarcity spiral begins with envy. If we find ourselves fixating on the achievements or wealth of others and becoming jealous or upset because someone is enjoying success, it puts us in a destructive mindset. Some justify this jealousy by supposing that the person who is thriving somehow took more than their fair share of success and that left less for everyone else. This kind of scarcity thinking can lead to guilt and a sense of shame when we haven't achieved the same level of success. This, in turn, leads to feelings of anger and resentment. Many people have come to believe that this perceived unfairness can only be resolved through government redistribution of the wealth of others. They don't realize that they've bought into a zero-sum mentality where one person's gain is believe to come only at the expense of another. This type of scarcity thinking tends to make us miserable. Happiness Hangs Out Where Abundance Does When we catch ourselves drifting into the scarcity mindset, it's important that we pull ourselves out of it and move toward the abundance neighborhood. Take a deep breath and consider why no one becomes upset about the air you just used. They don't care because there is still plenty of air for everyone else to breathe. We don't worry about anyone breathing too much of "our" air because there is abundance. This is true when it comes to other areas of life. Yet there are still individuals who feel like when someone else is successful, that somehow, their own success has been diminished. Gratitude is what puts us on the path to the abundance neighborhood. As we consciously appreciate the value of everything and everyone that we already have in our lives, it naturally leads us to the next stages of creativity and cooperation. It's at this point that we feel more free to add to the world around us. We're free to invent, to collaborate, and produce. When Karl Marx came up with the name capitalism, he did it because he thought the producers were capitalizing on the needs and wants of other people. A better name for capitalism would have been to call it cooperation. If we look at what real capitalism accomplishes, it enables people to cooperate with one another to meet their needs.
