Invest time with only 2 kinds of people

It's time for unpopular opinions. In today's edition:

I believe you should only invest time with 2 kinds of people.

1.) People of equal or greater character than yourself
2.) A willing & ready student

Now, before you start throwing things at me, here's why.

1.) You will become like the people you spend time around.
2.) You cannot help someone who does not want to change.

If both of those things are true, then I think it stands that unless a person is of at least equal character, spending time with them will degrade your own unless they are willing, eager, and ready to learn.

So, let's define character.

I think of character as the quality that results in trustworthiness.

When we are hiring at Skookum, we're looking for two things:
skills & character.

Skills are the things they need to do the job in question.

Character is the set of things they need to do the job in question in a way that makes us proud.

Those are different things. A person who is of high skill but low-character knows how to cut corners that most people never see.

A person of low skill and high character doesn't know how to do that job, but they admit that, ask for help, and usually learn how.

So when choosing companions, high character people are people that you can be sure will go about their business in the best way. These are generally know for producing excellence and expecting it from others. These are the kinds of people who make you sit up straighter, who make you wanna think harder, and try longer. Because those traits rub off.

But if you spend all your time with the people in who say it's 5 'o clock somewhere, well . . . those traits rub off too.

Don't get me wrong, I love to visiting Margaritaville, but I don't think I'd like myself if I started living there.

The exception to the only-invest-time rule is of course in the case of a willing and ready student. And both traits matter.

If someone approaches you and asks you to teach them or mentor them or some version of that, you should be looking for both readiness. They've demonstrated willingness, now are they capable of growth in the areas they want to.

And generally, unless it's somebody who works for me or someone that I parent, I try to avoid being the approacher. Because willing and ready students almost always seek out their own teachers.

So, that's today's unpopular opinion: only invest time with people of equal or greater character. The only exception is with a willing and ready student.