The people we spend time with matter a lot. You may have heard this proverb, "Tell me your friends and I'll tell you who you are." Or this quote by motivational speaker Jim Rohn, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." Or your parents may have told you they didn't want you hanging around with "that kind" of kid. There's a good reason for all this.

The people we spend the most time with affect us. Human beings naturally and unconsciously change our behavior to better match that of the people we hang around with. When your parents said they didn't want you hanging around with "that kind" of kid, they weren't just worried about you getting into trouble in the present. They were afraid that some of that kid's attitudes & behaviors would rub off on you over time. And they were right.

Face it. If you spent all your time hanging out with druggies who beat up little old ladies and knocked over convenience stores for fun, how likely is it that you would have turned out to be a model citizen? This isn't to say that people who get a bad start in life, or those who take a wrong turn along the way can't become great people in the end. But it is meant to illustrate that the people you spend time with affect you.

What does this have to do with your quest to build a great body and six-pack abs? A lot. Just as the people you hung around with as a kid affected what you did when you were growing up, the people you hang around with now affect you. And that includes your fitness program. Do you spend your time around obese, lazy people who think a healthy meal means having milk with their jelly donut and a workout is getting up from the couch to change the channel on the TV? Do you live with someone who sees overeating as a sign of love and believes no meal is complete until everyone is too stuffed to move? Do your friends think people with muscles are stupid, self-centered jerks? Would they rather suck down a beer and watch sports on TV than break a sweat of their own?

If any of these sounds like the people you hang out with, how likely is it that you'll be motivated to keep going when things get tough? How likely is it that you'll develop a fitness model's body when you hang out with people like these? If you somehow achieve your goals, how likely is it that you will be able to maintain them for long around people like these?

It's a painful but true 6 pack quest secret: If you really want to succeed in your quest, you must surround yourself with the kind of people who will support you in that quest and avoid those who won't.