In the food world the saying, "we are what we eat" applies very well.
Eventually, if people eat with poor nutrition, it affects their health negatively.
The work world tends to be the same way.
If we surround ourselves with minimum performance players, complaining types, depressed characters, and negative outlook perspective, it begins to affect our own performance in a negative direction.
This is particularly problematic for an entrepreneurial type who needs all the energy and motivation he can get, especially when starting out a business or project.
People You Work With Affect Your Mortality The fact is, in many situations entrepreneurs spend far more time with their partners and employees day after day than they spend with their family and friends.
As a result, our coworkers and their outlook on life and work has a real significant environmental effect on our own performance and mental perspective in the office.
That has a direct correlation to how successful an entrepreneur can be in a venture.
A 20-year Israeli research study (http://www.
wired.
com/wiredscience/2011/08/are-your-co-workers-killing-you/) found patterns evidencing that people lived longer when they worked with people they got along with versus office places where there was tension and conflict.
The study confirmed the fact that stress is harmful and being in a work environment where people cause stress to rise contributes to poor long-term health.
But that's just the physical health side of it.
An entrepreneur needs people who motivate and push him to overcome challenges and see a new venture through to success and completion.
If he's surround by people who constantly raise problems, can't see the big picture, or argue every new idea simply due to fear of change, that entrepreneur will generally be working twice as hard to cover the same ground as one surrounded by supporting partners and workers who share the same dream.
Solution So how to fix the problem? Fortunately, people can control to some extent whom they surround themselves with.
While it's not immediately possible in many cases to just fire people and partners en masse, entrepreneurs can actively find and associate with those who actively push ideas and dreams to reality.
Selective recruitment and searching for partners who have just as much energy and positive outlook as the entrepreneur can make a big difference later on when everyone has to perform to make a company happen.
Additionally, if the home front or personal friends are holding a person back, then physical separation tends to be the answer; it gets your head clear and you focus on what you need to do rather than making excuses to family and friends raising resistance.
That doesn't mean ignore your family; instead, an entrepreneur needs to build clear separations of time and commitment, not letting the personal life hold back the career life.
This proactive approach can break the stress cycle of being around negative people.
Instead, by eventually switching environments, a person can begin with a fresh team and new people, potentially eliminating the stress-causing source.