17 yeas ago, I started my job at the Children’s Home. For 8 years, I worked with abuse victims, sex offenders, drug addicts, violent clients, and almost any other issue you can think of. I learned more in that job than I have in any other work I have ever done. During my first year, I noticed a handful of people who excelled in their work. They could talk clients through any situation, solve any problem, calm down situations that seemed out of control, and were recognized by everyone around them to be superior employees. I remember watching my coworkers breath a collective sigh of relief when these people walked into an intense situation. I remember making a conscious decision that I would focus all my efforts on becoming as good at the work as those people. In order to accomplish it, I paid very close attention to how they did their jobs. I copied techniques, memorized the types of questions they asked, asked them questions, and followed them into any work situation I had the opportunity to engage in. In addition, after every shift, I asked my coworkers what I was doing right and how to do my job better. Sometimes people told me things that were hard to hear. In those times, I made myself listen and set aside my pride so I could do my work better. By the end of my tenure in residential mental health, I got pretty good at what I was doing. In addition to everything I learned about working with people and in a mental health environment, I learned an important principle: If you want to do your job better, find people who do it with excellence and learn from them. To some degree this principle is intentional. You have to make choices about how you are going to do your job and about studying the efforts of those you are emulating. There’s another part of it that is less overt. There is a weird truth that applies to all people in regards to the influence those around us have on our behavior and thinking. We tend to become like the people we associate with. If you spend enough time with folks who complain all the time, it’s easier to complain a lot. If you spend time with people who pursue excellence in their jobs, it rubs off on you. People are just wired that way. We unconsciously emulate our crowd. We tend to talk alike, eat alike, spend time alike, etc. If you desire to be better, find people you want to be like and stand close to them. This has the benefit of encouraging you through the peer group, but it also works because you have the opportunity to watch and learn. If you want to be fitter, make friends with folks who go to CrossFit and go with them. It’ll become a habit far easier than trying to do it alone. Most of what I learned as a chaplain, youth minister, and now as a pastor has come about by finding knowledgable mentors and intentionally learning from them. In cases where I cannot find someone qualified to learn a skill from, I read books written by experts. I firmly believe that the first step in attaining a higher level of skill or proficiency in anything is finding other, like-minded, and more skilled individuals to learn from and associate with. A great deal of success in life is attributable to this one habit.