You come across the saying "you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with" in books, podcasts, and online. Anytime you're talking about real estate, business, and personal development. It's become cliche, but because there is validity to it.

When I was still a student, I had a small group of close friends who were all in good shape, except for one - let’s call him Ned. Back then, I never closely thought about Ned’s exercise and nutrition habits, but when I look back at it now, they were far from ideal. At some point, he started to ask us for advice about health. Of course, we obliged and though we didn't have any formal system of accountability, I think that the time he spent with all of us helped establish a new standard for what was normal. Over time, he ended up losing over 60 pounds!

This personal anecdote shows the power of social norms and the environment. Now, bringing it back to real estate investing, I've realized that although the people around me are hard workers, are good people, have high standards for their health, and have personalities that I love, they don't necessarily have the same type of goals for wealth and meaningful work that I value, meaning I've put myself in an environment where I'm working against the grain! I'm in a good environment for health, quality work, and day-to-day happiness, but I haven’t put myself in an environment where it's the norm to achieve financial freedom, take calculated risks to build businesses, and build wealth for my future family and community. So my question for the forums:

Besides the obvious ones of real estate investment meetups and social media groups, what have you personally found to be the best way to meet with and develop genuine relationships with people who are achieving at a higher level than you financially and in business?

And related to that, how much overlap do you personally have between your close circle of friends and those with whom you talk about your goals for wealth, business, and contribution?