Surrounding yourself with people you admire isn’t just a luxury, it’s a force multiplier for your growth and success. The people around us influence us more than we realize, often in subtle ways. And when those people are ones you respect, it changes how you approach problems, how much effort you put in, and ultimately, how much you learn. You naturally hold yourself to a higher standard when you’re near someone you find inspiring. You want to meet their expectations and, in a way, emulate the qualities you admire in them.

Admiration creates a unique feedback loop. You start adopting the traits of those you admire, often without even knowing it. If you’re around someone who’s disciplined, you start being more disciplined. If they’re intellectually curious, you catch that curiosity too. In the same way that a great teacher can make you see the world from a new googles, spend your time with people you look up to can expand the way you think about your own capabilities.

The key thing is that it’s not just about learning specific skills. It’s about learning a mindset. Admiring someone means you recognize a way of thinking or behaving that seems worth copying. In some ways, it’s even better than formal mentorship. With mentorship, there’s a clear hierarchy, someone is teaching you. But when you’re surrounded by people you admire, the learning happens more naturally. You’re absorbing new ways of thinking simply because you want to keep up.

And this isn’t just about your personal life. It applies to work too. People you admire always reminds you that it’s possible to be excellent without sacrificing kindness, or to be ambitious without losing integrity. In work life the best teams aren’t just technically skilled; they’re made up of people who push each other to be better versions of themselves. If you’re lucky enough to work alongside people like this, it changes not just how you work but who you are becoming.

Admiring the people around you creates energy, and that energy makes everything seem possible. It’s why great teams achieve more than the sum of their parts. You’ll push yourself harder, think more creatively, and take bigger risks when you’re in the company of people who inspire you. You stop just going through the motions. Instead, you find yourself genuinely invested, and that feeling is rare and powerful.

Surrounding yourself with people you admire makes your life better, but more importantly, it makes you better. And when that happens, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.