"Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher."

Oprah Winfrey

I love going to my local Business Women's Network breakfast meetings. This morning they had a sheet of paper on each table with a heading, and our sheet had "Your top seven tips for achieving success". Appropriately enough I was sitting with a 'hall-of-fame' award winning business owner, and the President of the Business Women's Network, among others.

I wanted to bring one tip to your attention today, and that is

"Surround yourself with the right people"

It's not a new concept. In fact it probably dates back to the dawn of time when cave-men surrounded themselves with others who were stronger than them (cave-women of course ;)) Napoleon Hill talks about it in "Think and Grow Rich" written in 1935, particularly in his chapter titled "Step 9 Toward Riches: The Power of the Master Mind".

The Master Mind is a formalisation of surrounding yourself with the right people. You can literally choose a group of people to meet with on a consistent basis with the focus being on moving each of you forward to a place that would be difficult to reach on your own.

A Master Mind group is one thing, but who you are surrounded by on a day-to-day basis is also indicative of where you are going. If you are surrounded by others who are pessimistic, discouraging and who are what I call "energy-suckers" it is a long hard slog uphill to drag yourself out of the same space. If, on the other hand, you are surrounded by optimistic, encouraging people who inspire you to think bigger than you already are, you will find yourself swept up in the delicious flow of life.

For those of you that are already there - congratulations. I would like to challenge you to raise the bar - just a notch or two - and see where that takes you. For those of you that are looking around you now and aren't feeling particularly inspired - where do you start?

Here are just a few ways for you to consider:
Read uplifting books. Surrounding yourself with successful people doesn't have to mean physically. There are many out there who are ready to show you the way to achieve whatever you desire. Pick a few authors who really resonate with you, and read all you can find. If you aren't sure where to start, have a look at my links page for a few suggestions.
Attend your local Business Women's Network, or Chamber of Commerce meetings. Sometimes this can be tricky with children. If that's the case, why not start your own. Invite other 'mumpreneurs' to a meeting - either at hours that suit you, or perhaps agree to meet at the park or someones house. It doesn't have to be big, just make sure they are the right people.
Join forums. Look around for a forum that's active and that has topics that are encouraging, inspiring and challenging. To find a good forum for you do a google search with a few key words that you are interested in plus 'forum' for example small business forum.
Look in your local paper. It may be the community notices section, or it may be an article talking about someone that really catches your eye. If you find someones story inspiring, why not ring them and ask them if you can shout them a coffee in exchange for a chat.
Look out for workshops or seminars in your local area where other 'happening' people are likely to go. Don't just turn up - participate, and really make an effort to make contact with people who interest you. Ask if they would like to meet up again after the event.
Watch out for teleclasses and virtual workshops too - these may be just the kind of people that you can meet up with again - even if they're in a different country.

These are just a few ways for you to find the right kind of people to surround yourself with. Don't forget to include your children in this practice too. Take notice of who there friends are, what books they're reading and what's on the TV. Help them to understand this principle of surrounding themselves with the right people (reverse psychology can work wonders here ;))

Leap 'n' Bound: Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to 'notice' who it is that you are surrounding yourself with, and decide whether they are supporting you, or draining you. Should you decide that you are ready to move up a notch then take decisive action. If you think you need support during this time I encourage you to hire a coach. More than likely, you will find that they have already been through this process at some stage in their life and are ready to show you the way.