The Five Closest Friends Rule

The Five Closest Friends Rule

If you’re going to succeed at making important changes in your life, then you’re probably also going to need to be able to rely on a few people you can trust to tell you the truth when your perception of yourself and your reality do not match.
I call this the “Five Closest Friends Rule,” and the idea is to surround yourself with at least 5 people who all excel at something different that you’d like to excel at yourself.
Each of these people will be able to analyze the way you live your life and give you sound advice about how to improve yourself to become better at what they do that you admire.
Basically, when you’re stuck trying to figure out your own problem, they’ll help you bridge that cavernous “perception to reality gap” that we all have and keeps us perpetually confused about the right moves to make.

• Want to exercise more and stop being lazy? You need a few friends who know you well enough—and also exercises—to tell you the habits they see that will help you actually do that successfully.

• Want to excel at work or start your own side business? You need to find someone who’s already done that and can give it to you straight when you ask them what you need to do to have the same success.

• Want to save more money? Make friends with a super frugal person. Take them out to lunch and ask them how they do it. The first thing they’ll say is, “I don’t go out to lunch.”

• Want to learn an instrument? Find someone who’s already good at it to practice with. They’ll show you how the way you practice is holding you back from making more progress.

Find those five people you can count on to tell you the truth when your beliefs do not match your reality. You’ll be glad you did.