Change Anything: Part Two

Welcome back folks! This week's strategy for making permanent, positive changes in our lives is: Turn Accomplices Into Friends.

When it comes to habits (good or bad), you have two kinds of people around you: Friends and Accomplices. Friends help keep you on the road to health, happiness, and success. Accomplices do the opposite. For example, having obese friends increases your chance of following suit by a whopping 57%. Regarding finances, consider this: your income is the average of the incomes of the five people you hang out with the most.

Step one is identify who the "accomplices" are. Step two is can be more difficult: we have to either change the people around us, or change the people around us. Have a transformation conversation with the accomplices you want to turn into friends. Let them know from your heart what you are working on accomplishing. If they support you, they are a "friend." If they hold you back, they are an "accomplice." Every time you transform an accomplice into a friend, you win twice. You not only remove the negative influence, but you add a positive at the same time.

This doesn't mean that you have to tell anyone to get lost, but you will need to put a plan in place to limit (or eliminate) the influence they have over you. If certain meetings, lunches, social circles, and other rituals you attend encourage or enable the habits you’re trying to stop, you’ll need to recognize these influences. If you’re finding it particularly tough to change, it’s very possible that you have people around you who actively hold you accountable to a bad habit. Only by distancing yourself from certain people will be able to break free of their negative influence.

As you lay out your own change plan, find coaches, people who will hold you accountable to the changes you are striving to make. In an ideal world, you’ll want all friend and no accomplices. You can add numerous new friends at once by joining associations and clubs of people who are looking to achieve the same things you are.

People with six or more active "friends" who support them in their quest to change are almost 40% more likely to succeed in their change than those with less than six.

Now go make some change!!!