Shade Zahrai

That's the Pygmalion effect.

And it's been observed in classrooms between teachers and students, between parents and their kids, in workplaces, even in the military.

Fascinating.

Wow.

Now the inverse is that if you're around people who don't really believe in you, think your goals are too out there, and often this happens to be family, unfortunately, or close friends who knew you before, before your growth journey, right?

That's like a whole other thing we could talk about.

When you're around them, you tend to shrink, you tend to underperform, you tend to hold yourself back, and then you lower your performance and your expectations to where they have them.

That's called the Gollum effect.

And this is why it is so important to be aware of who is in your circle.

There's that quote where you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

There's no scientific validation for the number five, but there are countless studies that demonstrate this effect is absolutely real.

And so we need to be aware of it.

One quick tip I want to share for anyone who has been on a growth journey, whether that is a health and wellness journey, whether that's a self-development journey, you will find that there are people in your life who will say something to you

that can feel really off-putting and uncomfortable.

And they might say something like, Max, you've changed.

Have you ever heard that?

How do we respond to those people?

In those moments, it feels like they're trying to undermine your growth.

It feels really uncomfortable.

You might try and prove yourself and say, no, no, no, I haven't.