In the last post, I mentioned the advantages of Association when you embark on a project.
However, there's a caveat here.
Association is a forceful factor in any area of life.
We can have people who inspire, encourage and and help us grow into our aspirations. Or, we can be with people who belittle, discourage and suck the very life from our efforts.
Discouragement, like inspiration, can come from the most unexpected of sources. It can come in the plain and obvious form of bold, clear statements.
It can come in sugar-coated, whispered, oblique suggestions that are, consciously or not, designed to cause you to hesitate, question, and doubt your course of action.
Thus, any of us can be derailed in a perfectly good project for the want of not being true to our aims and beliefs.
This brings us back to the power, and the need for, a decision.
Being decisive in life simplifies things.
When you believe that you've given due consideration to a course of action, weighed it up, and then on the basis that you're right as far as you can see, and committed to that decision, your duty then is to honour your own judgement, stick with it, and do it.
If you're wrong, or if for some other reason, it doesn't work out, you're secure in the knowledge that everything possible has been done. Then, you can either change the action to suit the needs, or do something completely different. But the choice remains yours, and you'll have learned from taking that responsibility.
So, look closely to your associates. Let yourself become aware of those who tend to contribute to your achievements, and of those who can, intentionally or not, undermine them.
Most people, it's my belief, tend be helpful rather than malicious, but we do need to be realistic too, don't we?
Having a goal in life, shared with a fellow-human who understands what it may mean to you, and is loyal and supportive, can reinforce the value, and the reality, of that goal.
Back to how this affects your training: when you physically train with a like-minded individual, or a group, you tend to reinforce the impact of the training in the mind as well as in the body.
And if the companion is familiar with, and concerned in, your aims and your abilities, then it's much more valuable.
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