Surround yourself with smarter than you


I want to express my thought a little bit on how important are the people you surround yourself with. If you ever took interest in growth and high performance or you are a high performer, you probably already new this. We also all heard of saying: tell me what your friends are, I'll tell you who you are. Yes, that is true. Now you can make two conclusions out of this:

  1. You should think of where you are in your life. If not, think of what people surround you. Are they where they want to be in their lives? Do they strive to become the best versions of them selves? Even if you are where you want to be or are working on that, the people around you are either pushing you towards greatness or holding you back.
  2. Use this to your advantage. Loose bad influence friends and find the ones who will teach you and inspire you.


Now, I was talking about high performance and inspiration, but the title mentions smart people. Well, those who reach the hight in their lives are smart. From a developers perspective, you will benefit greatly from more experienced colleagues. Don't of them as people who take your wanted position or preventing you from moving forward in your career. On the contrary, approach them, listen to them, watch how they act and code. Do they go for the easy way or invest time and energy now to make things right? Ask them to mentor you. This is the fastest way to gain knowledge and experience.

I'm telling this not only because I read it in some book, but because I can confirm this theory from my own experience. When I think of the times when I excelled the most, it was due to somebody else. It was either somebody much more senior level than me showing me how problems could be approached in different and more efficient ways, teaching me the thought process, or a teammate  pointing out the flaws in my code or thinking, but not in a negative way, it was for the good of everybody.

So, surround yourself with smart people. If you feel like there are none (which I doubt), be one. Lead and inspire others, become a role model. And then find somebody smarter outside of your circle, there is always somebody to learn from :)

Keep going and respect others!

Sincerely,
Ernestas


P.S.

I know I'm not posting often enough as I promised, however it feels like if I push it too much I will quit this blogging thing all together. So, I will be posting when I feel like it, when I have something to share. In the mean time, you can see me more often in Larastream, where I will be streaming as I work on a side project.
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands

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