The Company You Keep Matters | 28 Questions to Evaluate Its Character7 min read

As you can see above, I have made these questions into a video. You can watch that straightaway instead of reading through the 28 questions. Actually, I encourage that as I have made it quite engaging and it will evoke many emotions in you. I came up with these questions sometime back while contemplating friendship and the intricacies associated with it.

Life is made up of the relationships we form over its course and friendship is one of its key pillars.

It’s important that we thoroughly assess its character as it greatly determines the life we lead.

I have also collected some quotes to further expound on the topic to help you further contemplate this important part of life.

I hope these questions and quotes help you nurture real relationships in your life and live a fulfilling life.

28 Questions to Evaluate Your Friendships

1. What kind of life do you aspire to?
2. Who do you look up to?
3. More importantly, what do you look down on?
4. Who do you walk with?
5. What do you do together?
6. Is it productive anytime? Is it unproductive most of the time?
7. Or is it actually detrimental to your growth and well-being?
8. Do you exchange ideas?
9. Do you learn together?
10. Are you open-minded?
11. What about your associates?
12. Is there teamwork?
13. Or covert rivalry?
14. Do you celebrate each other?
15. Do you respect each other?
16. Or do you discredit one another?
17. Do you try to understand each other’s struggles and aspirations?
18. What about the intentions, are they straightforward, honest?
19. Have you got each other’s back?
20. Or is it an association of convenience?
21. Do your morals and values align?
22. What good and bad your circle normalizes?
23. Do your actions and words align?
24. Do you have a shared vision about life?
25. How’s the company of the company you keep?
26. Are you investing in lifelong camaraderie?
27. Or short-term self-interest?
28. Again, what kind of life do you aspire to?

37 Quotes on the Company You Keep

1. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. – Jim Rohn
2. Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company. – Booker T. Washington
3. Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers, and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself. – Edmund Lee
4. The people you surround yourself with influence your behaviors, so choose friends who have healthy habits. – Dan Buettner
5. Be mindful of the environment you create around you. The energy you bring, the values you uphold, and the people you surround yourself with all contribute to the life you experience. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. The people we surround ourselves with either raise or lower our standards. They either help us to become the best version of ourselves or encourage us to become lesser versions of ourselves. – Tony Robbins
7. The quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life. Invest in connections that elevate your spirit and bring joy to your heart. – Unknown
8. Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one. – C.S. Lewis
9. People inspire you or they drain you. Pick them wisely. – Hans F. Hansen
10. True friends are the ones who walk in when the rest of the world walks out. – Walter Winchell
11. Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words. – George Eliot
12. A friend is someone who makes it easy to believe in yourself. – Heidi Wills
13. Choose to be in close proximity to people who are empowering, who appeal to your sense of connection to intention, who see the greatness in you. – Wayne Dyer
14. Your circle should want to see you win. Your circle should clap loudly when you have good news. If not, get a new circle. – Unknown
15. It’s better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction. – Diane Grant
16. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. – Jim Rohn
17. It’s better to be alone than in bad company. – African Proverb
18. People who uplift you are the best kind of people. You don’t simply keep them. You cherish them. – Dodinsky
19. Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words. – George Eliot
20. Surround yourself with people who challenge you, teach you, and push you to be your best self. – Bill Gates
21. Have people around you that make you want to work even harder. – Young Dolph
22. The quality of a person’s life is most often a direct reflection of the expectations of their peer group. – Tony Robbins
23. I surround myself with driven individuals. Hard work understands hard work. Period. – Arvin Lal
24. You cannot surround yourself with negative people and expect positive outcomes. – Roy Bennett
25. If you look at your circle and don’t get inspired, then you don’t have a circle, you have a cage. – Nipsey Hussle
26. Positive thinking can be contagious. Being surrounded by winners helps you develop into a winner. – Arnold Schwarzenegger
27. Surround yourself with people who have the habits that you want to have yourself. – James Clear
28. Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you can become great. – Mark Twain
29. Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution. – Albert Einstein
30. Let go of negative people. They only show up to share complaints, problems, disastrous stories, fear, and judgment on others. If somebody is looking for a bin to throw all their trash into, make sure it’s not in your mind. – Dalai Lama
31. It took me way too long to realize that you shouldn’t be friends with people who never ask you how you’re doing. – Steve Maraboli
32. Surround yourself with people who are deeply rooted in love, work ethic, and understanding. – Alex Elle
33. There is immense power when a small group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals. – Idowu Koyenikan
34. Surround yourself with those who will revel in your success and see your ascent as a reflection of their own possibilities. – T.D. Jakes
35. A small group of determined and like-minded people can change the course of history. – Mahatma Gandhi
36. Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. – Eleanor Roosevelt
37. Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success. – Henry Ford

Conclusion

While I have sufficiently spoken about my inquiry and provided various measures for assessing the company we keep as individuals in the video I made, I hope these quotes have given you a more comprehensive perspective to contemplate on the relationships you are fostering and the tribe you are building and the impact it will have on your life.

Many people have said it before but it is worth stressing that truly the company we keep sets the bar for how big we dream and how high we aim. How satisfied we feel and how purposeful our pursuits are.

It also determines how pathetic we feel, how mindless our actions become, how limited our vision is shaped, and how the quality of our life deteriorates.

If someone isn’t a catalyst, they should also have no right to be an inhibitor.

It’s true that it’s better to be alone than to be in bad company.

Make sure that you don’t excuse selfishness and associations of convenience on your own accord for people who consistently don’t show up for you.

No one makes excuses to people whom they value or enjoy being around.

Respect yourself and only entertain quality friendships and associations that value you and your camaraderie.

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