You probably remember a parent or a teacher saying, “You are known by the company you keep.”

Taking that old quote, business philosopher Jim Rohn makes it a little more specific: “You are the average of the five people you send the most time with.”

Note the subtle but real difference between the two quotes. The first refers to how you may be judged; the second refers to what you may become.

Everyone around you affects you. Here are a couple of ways to evaluate exactly what effect that might be:

To paraphrase Eleanor Roosevelt, do their conversations center on things, on ideas or on other people?

Do they inspire you or do they bring you down?

Today is a day to examine the five people with whom you spend the most time, and to look at the effect they have on you.

It’s also a day to examine what effect you may be having on them.