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Not really ground breaking.... but a jasosophy all the same... I can’t find the origin, but my version; “If you want to be great, surround yourself with great people”. I think it’s an important realisation not often made.

Depending on your take on life this may mean something different, perhaps people who are inspirational, happy, giving, rich, knowledgeable or even just similar. The beauty and challenge in this topic is the diversity to which is can apply; friends, family, social groups, politics, religion, work etc. In each of these settings there are always people contributing to, influencing and affecting us and our lives.

The proposition: Great people define you and are essential to happiness.

I think great people are both those you learn from and those you don’t. Those you learn from are obviously essential while those you don’t learn just as important. I guess my thinking correlates to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs; feeling valued comes from providing a unique contribution to those around us (learning from us). I point out the distinction because it’s easy to forget the great learners around us as we focus on those we want to learn from (or the absence of them). We are nothing without both.

As I mentioned above, identifying great people is basically subjective. Our socialisation means each of us will probably have a fair degree of overlap in what we define as great but it is still subjective none the less. Therefore what we look for is pretty much what we are going to find. This is also important because having too narrowed a view is more than likely going to lead you to finding flaws and constantly seeking a greatness which doesn’t exist. So being open to seeing greatness you do not yet understand is important. “Everyone has something you can learn from” – unknown. I think that is a powerful statement, everyone you meet knows something or has a skill which you can benefit from. Something that will help you achieve what you want in life. So everyone has greatness in them, you just have to want to find it. Being able to see greatness in others also helps us appreciate their contribution to our lives. And finally, these great learners are your main supporters, helping you achieve whatever it is you’re trying to achieve. You need them as much as they need you.

The lack of people to learn from has pretty obvious effects. Put simply, if you’re not growing then you’re dying. Again, growing can come in many shapes and forms for each of us; career wise, as a person, in knowledge etc. The growth can be in a different direction tomorrow but being without it is to stagnate. Reaching our potential capability is what is satisfying and rewarding. We need great people to guide us for a lot of that journey.

Surrounding ourselves with great people translates to doing great things, great achievements and great satisfaction. Continuously surrounding ourselves with the best people in what we aspire can only lead to fulfilment and happiness as we continue along that desired path and help others get there too.

Find those great people!