Could it really be that simple..?
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BY JENNY SMITH MATTFELDT Published September 25, 2024
We've all heard the advice "show me your friends, I'll show you your future" or some variation of "you're a combination of the five people closest to you," but does that really include your net worth? Can simply being around wealthier individuals or exposing yourself to affluent environments actually influence your financial success? According to mindset experts like Ed Mylett and current research in psychology, the answer is absolutely yes. When you surround yourself with success and wealth it doesn't just affect your mindset— it opens your subconscious to new possibilities, namely helping you believe financial abundance is within your reach.
One of my favorite podcast episodes on the topic is Ed Mylett's "Achieve the Impossible." In this episode Mylett explains his strategy, touching the dream, which is designed to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be by physically and emotionally exposing yourself to your goals. This can be as simple as visualizing or as involved as test driving your dream car. When you expose yourself to these aspirations you begin to break down mental barriers, normalize these scenarios in your mind, and raise your standards. Not only does this show your subconscious what's possible it starts building belief that this is possible for you too, I like to think of it as rehearsing for your future just as you would rehearse for a part in a play.
This isn't a new concept in fact one of the most famous books on the subject, Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich," was written in 1937. Hill's classic work emphasizes that being around successful people, or simply learning and implementing their habits, can shift your mindset to believe wealth is possible. He theorized that repeated exposure to stories of wealth and success can "reprogram" our subconscious minds to focus on wealth opportunities.
At the base of each of our brains just above the spinal cord is something called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). The RAS controls how we percieve the sensory stimuli around us so we know how to behave accordingly. There is unlimited sensory input around us which would be overwhelming to experience all at once so our RAS prioritizes the important things for us. Quanta Magazine puts it beautifully, when you're looking for your friend wearing a red shirt in a crowd your brain tunes out all the other colors and emphasizes the red ones. Our brains do this in every aspect of life including opportunities, wealth, and goals.
So what does this look like in real life? Mylett shares how he and his wife would save up for a night at a luxury resort. At first, he felt extremely uncomfortable in these environments because he didn’t feel like he belonged, but he wanted to play golf with these wealthy men, to see how they walked and talked. Gradually, after a few visits, the nerves disappeared, and it all felt familiar. His brain went from telling him he didn’t belong to feeling right at home surrounded by wealth.
Experiencing abundance doesn’t have to cost you anything. You can achieve the same effect by visiting coffee shops or driving through affluent neighborhoods and imagining how it would feel to live there. You can create vision boards, visualize before falling asleep—the options are endless it's whatever looks like wealth to you. Think of it as telling your RAS, "This is what I like, and I’d like to experience more of this." Now, this doesn’t mean you should go around faking wealth. It’s not about how others perceive you—it’s about how you perceive yourself. It’s about showing your subconscious, deep down, you are worthy and comfortable with having these things.
So does having rich friends guarantee you'll end up wealthy? Unfortunately no, but it sure does increase your odds. While nothing can guarantee financial success you can do things to help cultivate the mindset needed to pursue it. Surrounding yourself with affluence, whether through relationships, environments, or intentional visualization works to reprogram your subconscious and elevate your belief in what's possible. Like Ed Mylett and even Napoleon Hill show us, seeing success will help you find the path to achieving it. It's not about pretending you're something you're not— it's about expanding your comfort zone, shifting your perception of what's possible, and ultimately just rehearsing for the life you want. By exposing yourself to greater possibilities you're not just dreaming about success, you're preparing yourself to live it.
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