I firmly believe in the power of mentors and leaders to inspire action. This principle is none more demonstrable than with our own personal circle of friends. I would even use this as a measure of how great our friends really are. So how can our friends inspire us?
Easy, as cheerleaders.
How often do you honestly cheer for your friends, beyond mere acknowledgment of congratulations? As a friend, you are in the unique position of providing support. All you really have to do is hold them accountable.
We can try to set goals for ourselves but most of the time, we fail to complete them. Since we personally set them, it's easy for us to make excuses when we fail, but how can we make excuses to someone else? That's why we have parents and teachers to make sure we're in the straight and narrow.
As adults, we try our hardest to detach ourselves from such figures and embrace a measure of independence, but without the structure of school to provide us with a clear cut path to success, we enter a cycle of self-letdowns.
That's why we should use our friends as motivators, as people that we don't want to let down. Just knowing that you have someone vested in your success makes you more motivated.
Think about all your friends. Do you have someone who is absolutely lazy and seems headed for a dead-end life?
Maybe, just maybe, you can be the spark to light them up.
