Have you ever heard that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with?

I slept late yesterday and inadvertently missed the run with my neighborhood running group.  No biggie – instead I hopped on my bike and went out for a solo ride when I got up.  (See my little bike shadow up there?)  These totally perfect, it’s-almost-summer mornings have been impossible to resist lately.

While I truly enjoy being active in both a group setting and by myself, today I was feeling very grateful for my friends and family who care about exercise and eating good food as much as I do.  I’ve come to see how important it is to find and surround yourself with people who inspire and motivate you.  This applies to health and fitness, but can be applied to any aspect of your life that you might want to improve or simply sustain.  Pay attention to the people who have achieved what you want to achieve.  These people give you awesome ideas that can be the seeds for awesome ideas of your own.

Can you tell I’m more than half way through Jillian Michael’s new book, Unlimited: How to Build an Exception Life?  She touches on just this thing.  Man, I love that woman.  I’m so glad she’s got a podcast because then I can at least pretend she’s my friend.

If you don’t have an abundance of inspiring people in your real life, (or even if you do!) look for them wherever you can.  Check out their books at the library, download their podcasts from iTunes, find them on message boards or blogs.  Watching other people do inspiring things can lead to doing some inspiring things yourself, quite likely inspiring others along the way.  How thoughtful of you!

Choose the people you spend your time with wisely – it matters more than you might expect.