* Abe Lincoln once said, “If you give me six hours to chop down a tree, I’ll take the first five to sharpen my axe!”
* If you want to achieve something of significance (like build a business), one of the best ways to “sharpen your axe” is to build your squad!
* We become like the people we hang around the most.
* “According to research by social psychologist Dr. David McClelland of Harvard, the people you habitually associate with determine as much as 95 percent of your success or failure in life.
* But it’s even bigger than this - it’s not just your immediate friends - it’s your social network as well.
* Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler examined the data set from the Framingham Heart Study, one of the largest and longest running health studies ever, when they realized that it covered more than just the heart health of the participants. They were studied for all sorts of medical conditions, and during interviews they were probed with all sorts of demographic questions, including questions about family members and friends.
* So they started analyzing the data to see what the effects of family members and friends were on something fairly easy and objective: obesity. According to their results, if a friend of yours becomes obese, you yourself are 45 percent more likely than chance to gain weight over the next two to four years. More surprisingly, however, they found that if a friend of your friend becomes obese, your likelihood of gaining weight increases by about 20 percent — even if you don’t know that friend of a friend. The effect continues one more person out. If a friend of the friend of your friend develops obesity, you are still 10 percent more likely than random chance to gain weight as well.
* They found that if your friend smokes, you are 61 percent more likely to be a smoker yourself. If a friend of your friend smokes, you are still 29 percent more likely to smoke. And for a friend of a friend, the likelihood is 11 percent.
* Perhaps the most telling study was of happiness. The two researchers found that happy friends make you happier — no surprise there. If your friend is happy you are 15% more likely to be happy. A friend of a friend being happy gives you a 12% chance of being happier as a result. A friend of a friend of a friend gives you a 6 percent greater likelihood of being happy yourself. 
* Why is all this important?
* Because it shows the importance of building your squad!
* David, the most famous and arguably the most successful man in the Old Testament, shows us the value of your squad!
* And it starts with your closest confidant.
* Vs 1 - David told Nathan first! Good move.
* Vs 2 - Nathan empowered David to do what was in his heart! Good friend.
* Vs 3 - God spoke to David THROUGH Nathan!
* David never got rid of Nathan after the rebuke (he even named one of his kids after him).
* Imagine if David shared this vision about the temple with Hiram first - he would’ve activated a plan to make it happen.
* But Nathan didn’t start planning, he started praying.
* Who are your closest friends? Do you have a Nathan in your life?
* The only way to achieve true success is with a squad.
* Even Jesus showed us this.
* Three things about your squad:
* 1) Surround yourself with people who make you better.
* 2) Surround yourself with people who will give you hard advice.
* 3) Surround yourself with people who are more concerned about the burden than the benefit.