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Rebecca Reichardt

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June 28, 2026

You Are the Average of the Five People You Spend the Most Time With

You have seen the memes. You may have been sent one! (I know I have!) “In a world of ‘good luck with your gym session’ friends — find your ‘you better be at class’ friends.” The quotes pile up: “Here’s a heavier dumbbell.” “One more rep.” “No excuses today.” “You’re stronger than you think.”

People share them because it strikes a cord. Somewhere underneath the humor is a real truth that is hard to articulate: the people you surround yourself with shape who you become.

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn put it more plainly. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

He was talking about life broadly — career, ambition, mindset, habits. But all of those things start with doing hard things each day. And the people you choose to spend time with influence you more than you think!

No need to drop your college friends or skip Sunday dinners with your family. You are adding. Adding a community. Adding a group of people to your daily routine who happen to treat hard work as a baseline expectation, who show up when it would be easier not to, who cheer for each other and hold each other accountable without being asked to.

One hour. A few times a week. A community of people quietly raising your standards just by being themselves. The gym is one of the few places where we can just choose to surround ourselves with people focused on getting better.

You thought you were just signing up for exercise, not a mindset shift – don’t be surprised if you get both!

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