You are the average of the 5 people around you.

For most of my life, I have not been the smartest person in the room, and I have always felt lucky for that. If you have seen Naruto, I relate deeply to Naruto’s journey of starting from zero and dreaming of becoming the Hokage someday. Throughout the series, the character keeps learning and is rarely the best in a fight until the very end, and I admire that. Today, I feel proud of what I have achieved so far, even though I still have a long way to go to become the Hokage.

After giving it a lot of thought, I write this down and I credit it to my ability to pick up the right qualities from the people around me. I feel very fortunate to be surrounded by exceptionally intelligent people in every phase of my life. But that does not mean I haven’t learned from everyone else around me. I think it is important to recognize that you do not know everything, and that there is something to learn from everyone.

This brings me to an important life framework: you are the average of the five people around you. So make sure you are surrounded by the best people at work, at school, and among your friends. Build the instinct to learn the right things from everyone.