Be wary the company you keep.

I heard a saying once. A level people will hire A level people. While B level people hire C level people. Why is this? A level people get to their standing by constantly getting better at whatever it is they do. Understanding that they just can't do everything on their own. While B level people are just worried about themselves and not looking bad at their job. That is why they hire those that are worse than they are. Makes yourself look better, without getting better.

Same goes for your friends. You find that people who are successful tend to stick to their own. But you know at one point, they had that good for nothing stoner friend. What happened? They realized that they were becoming an A level person while their friend was sticking to B or C level. Yeah I know that this sounds very dickish, but think of it this way.

A bunch of us from work are getting ready to compete in a hackathon. We have separated into three teams; Team LiveWire, Team MajorLazerKittens, and Team WubWub. We did this to compete against each other, as well as the rest of the competitors. B or C level teams might not even have gotten this far. And just waited until the day of to figure something out. We used to be those guys. Now we are one our way to A level. In just 12 hours, each team had a website, twitter, and mascot. Once again this was driven by each team's willingness to compete and put in work to win. Since we are all working to be A level teams, it will only make the other teams better.

So back to your friends. You always compete against your friends, in your head or in real life. Somehow you try to find a way to prove who is the best. If you have A level friends, you will constantly be doing something to win this battle. Getting that better job, learning something new, making that awesome project, etc. Just to show who is superior. Yet if you have B and C level friends, you realize that you are already doing more. This will cause you to not try as hard, since you are already doing better than they are. Your point of reference is skewed. And pretty soon, you become a B or C level yourself.

Be wary the company you keep.