 Through a relationship with a bad friend, a man called Emnon received a bad advice from the friend and sexually abused his sister. The same Emnon died a brutal death while his friend escaped. When I was young, we were told to be careful who we follow. It didn't quite matter to me at the time, but years of experience would teach me later that that piece of advice is the best path a young person should take. As a young person, there is always a tendency always to want to keep friends, which isn't a bad idea, but if you hang around with wrong friends and maintain relationships that are unprofitable to you in any way, you can be sure that you will end up becoming like the kind of relationship you keep. If you are a person and you want to live a successful, fulfilling life, here are three relationships I suggest you cultivate. 1. Relationship with books When I was in the university, I was confused about what to do with my life. I turned to books, I was studying a course I hated, and I knew there was no future for me in it. So, I gave myself to reading profusely. I read so much I hardly thought the world around me existed. The result was that in my third year, I discovered what I was supposed to do with my life. I found my calling as a writer and threw myself into it. My spoken English was quite poor then. I read myself into becoming one of the leaders of an organization that allowed only highly intelligent people to lead. If I hadn't spent time reading back then, I can't imagine what my life would be now. By reading, Daniel in the Bible understood God's plan for his people. He discovered that the period of slavery was ended and yet out of ignorance, the people were still living in slavery. You see, people who don't read are living in some sort of slavery. The reason is simple. You are always paid as much as you know. What you don't know will either negatively impact you or hold you back from getting to places you are supposed to get to. So, yes, it is true. Ignorance does kill. If you spend your time reading loads of books starting today, you can bet your chances that your future will be secure, because you will know just enough to always put you over your mates. You can do the test yourself. Who do you enjoy listening to? Between the friend who shows a high sense of knowledge about a topic and someone who knows nothing but speaks foolishly. 2. Relationship with skillful people Isaac Newton is alleged to have said, I know so much by standing on the shoulders of people who have gone ahead of me. Observe most of the successful people in the past and in our contemporary times. Bill Gates hung out with Paul Allen and built a successful company. Steve Jobs hung out with Steve Wozniak and both built successful companies. Larry Page hung out with Sergey Brin and their companies keep growing. Nicholas Zenstrom hung out with Janice Freese and both built Skype, which was sold to Microsoft for $8.5 billion in 2011. Who you hang out with will determine who you become. Beautiful as it is to have friends whom you talk to. The truth is, if your friends are not five times better than you, you should at least be on the same level as them and be sure you all are working towards going to some great place. When you hang out with Lolies, it is just so certain that they will inflict you with their mindsets. Scientists hang out with scientists because they love to pick each other's brains. Great business people never go to slums to look for poor chaps to play with. No, they go to hang out with other great businessmen so they can rub minds and learn from each other. If you're skillful and you want to be excellent at what you do, spend time hanging out with other people in your field, mostly people who are better than you, and you'll be surprised what happens to your skill. Does this mean you have to always physically meet this friend? If possible, yes, but if not, why on earth is there YouTube? YouTube is always my go-to place to befriend people who are better than me in my field, by studying what they do, how they do it, and copying their examples. 3. Relationships with mentors and successful people The bible tells the story of a young king, Rohobon, who needed advice on how to make a decision. He consulted the elders and they gave him good advice. Then he ignored that piece of advice and consulted his peers. They gave him the wrong advice. He followed that piece of advice and he was ruined. It is overstated, but Jim Ron says you're the average of the five people you hang out with. If you hang out with idiots, it won't be long before you start acting like one. I told you the story of Amnon in the beginning. Amnon in the bible was having incestuous feelings towards his sister and he asked his friend for advice on what to do. The friend gave him details on how he could abuse his sister and after Amnon did it, his eyes opened. Eventually, he was brutally killed, but what hurt me was that his friend who gave him the piece of advice was not there to save him. Neither was the friend killed. The friend you hang out with will always influence you, but the other side is that they will not always be there to be the brunt or the benefit of that piece of advice. Hang out with successful people and you will be successful. The reason is simple. No matter how you do it, you will always tend to think like the people you hang out with. If you spend so much time in the company of successful people, even if it is just picking their bags and dropping their trash, you will unconsciously begin to pick up their ways and won't know why you're suddenly behaving like them. If your relationships aren't profitable to you in any way, it is time to make some changes. Young people who have made plans to live a successful life know the importance of the people they hang out with. You may not have all the money in the world and you may not have all the resources and opportunities in the world, but you sure have the power within your grabs to choose the kind of people you hang out with. Hang out with books because the more you know, the more you have the edge over most who don't know. Hang out with skillful people because if you're very good at what you do, you'll move forward faster. Hang out with successful people because you will always think and act like the people you hang out with. If this video inspired you, share the video. We love you.