Thieves and Allies

There are two types of people: thieves and allies.

Thieves steal your time, energy, joy, and dreams. Allies are people who fill you up and make you better. Look at the people that you spend most of your time with. Do you spend more time with thieves or allies? Do the people you hang around have the same goals as you? Are they good role models? Do they make you better?

Antonio Neves is an author and speaker, and he told a story about his time as a walk-on college track athlete at Western Michigan. Being a walk-on can be tough. You aren't guaranteed a spot on the team, you don't have a scholarship, and you can be cut at any moment. Every single day, you have to show up ready to work, give your best, and bring value to the team to earn your stay. He said that one conversation with his head coach completely changed his life. The coach said to him, "Antonio, you are doing horrible. In the two years that you have been on the team, not once have I seen you spend any time with our All-Americans."

They had two All-Americans on the track team. One went on to compete in the Olympics, and the other spent time competing for world championships.

His coach continued by saying, "Instead, you are spending time with "those" guys. Those guys were good guys but they were not All-Americans."

Neves said that his coach was right. He didn't spend time with the All-Americans because they got up earlier than he did, they ate better than he did, and they weren't at all the parties that he went to because they were more committed to being great. He didn't do all of the extra reps that they were doing, and it was easier for him to spend his time with the other people.

Thieves are people in our lives who don't make us better. They don't encourage us, they don't inspire us, they don't challenge us, they don't push us, and they don't hold us accountable to be the absolute best version of ourselves. They might not be bad people, but they are thieves because they take something from us without putting something back in.

Spend your time with allies. Spend your time with people who encourage you, inspire you, challenge you, push you and hold you accountable to being the absolute best version of yourself.

Think about the last 30 days of your life and think about the 5 people you spent the last 30 days with. Are they thieves or are they allies? Do they make you better? Do they keep it real with you? Do they hold you accountable? Are they helping you become the best person that you can be?

If they aren't, you don't have to stop being friends with them, but you have to find time to spend with more allies.

Listen more about Thieves and Allies and more great stories about and by Antonio in his interview with Jon Gordon here.