Any good recruiter or hiring manager knows that the best form of recruiting is to get a referral from someone who is really good. If someone who is really good refers them then that means that the person being referred will likely be good too. It is why social sites such as LinkedIn have become so important to recruiters because a social graph is being exposed that can tell us who is associated with whom. It works. Associations with others can have powerful, impacting and long-lasting influences on us. Our parents were always concerned about this weren’t they? Who we associated with would have influence and bearing on how we conducted ourselves and behaved, or didn’t. Even today, with whom we associate is important as they rub off on us and us on them. If we are with generally up, positive and uplifting attitude-minded people then it becomes really hard to be down when with that crowd. Vice-versa is also true. If we hang and associate with those who see the world and life in negative terms then we can find ourselves being pulled down and becoming just as negative. So, we should choose carefully and deliberately our associations. In Proverbs 22:24 we read; “Keep away from angry, short-tempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul.” There you have it. We need to be very cognizant of the influences upon us if we are to keep the attitude and example that we know we want to keep. Think about this today. Where you are putting yourself in attitudinal harm’s way, rethink those associations and consider a change or pattern to ensure that you are not being pulled down. It might be that if you do that, others around you at work start coming to associate with you because you are the uplifting one now.

Reference: Proverbs 22:24 (New Living Testament)