VER-XIV-0052
“I surrounded myself with people who are ahead of me and started rising to meet them.”
You could have stayed in rooms where you were the most accomplished — comfortable, flattering, going nowhere. Instead you got into rooms where you were the smallest, and the floor started pulling you up. That's building with: choosing company that raises the ceiling. The discomfort of being outclassed is the exact price of growth.
Your Practice
- Name the people who are ahead of you and what you're learning by standing near them.
- Bring value, don't just take it. Build-with means you're worth being around too.
- Resist the pull back to easier rooms where you're the biggest. Comfort is the cage.
- Welcome the ones coming up behind you, the way the room welcomed you.
The Architects
“Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those who you are capable of improving.”
— Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, Letter 7