A former Navy fighter pilot describes joining a squadron at 24 and finding a rare culture where people pushed each other to excel instead of tearing each other down. He argues your network shapes who you become, and deliberately choosing people who want to grow makes you grow faster.
When I stepped foot in my Navy fighter squadron when I was 24 years old, for the first time in my life, I finally felt like I found a home because I was all of a sudden surrounded by people that were actually striving for excellence and they were building each other up instead of trying to tear each other down. And that's actually something that's very rare in our society. I've always carried that with me and I'm currently striving to maintain those same level of friendships where everyone's pushing each other everyone actually wants the best for the other individuals in the friend group. And they say that your network is your net worth. And I find that to be incredibly true. I try to surround myself with other people who are pushing themselves to become the best version of themselves. And they want that same thing for me. And so we end up growing together and pushing each other to become that highest version of ourselves.
