by Michael Holland     

Your potential is determined by your inner circle: those closest to you.

Basically, your success as a man builds from the strength of the immediate team that surrounds you. This team can enable you and make you stronger or hold you back.  You need strong, dedicated, forward-thinking, and positive players who will challenge you to achieve greater outcomes in life.

The fun part is figuring out what people and which combinations of people will create the best inner circle for you during this season of your life.  Through time and changes in your environment, the circle will change both in size and composition.  You are the one who determines when it’s appropriate to adjust the size and composition of the inner circle.  How well you anticipate, plan for, and then execute the change in your inner circle correlates directly to the level of your success.

Take Action:

Draw three concentric circles on a piece of paper  (like a bullseye target).  Place names within the circles according to their proximity to you, noting who is part of you inner circle today, who is in the next circle out, and who may be in the outer circle.  Next, decide who gets arrows:  either an arrow away from the center or an arrow towards the center.  Finally, determine what actionable steps will you take to adjust your inner circle.