The following goes without saying;

the people with whom you surround yourself have a great impact on who you become in life.

The opinions of your friends are often more important than those of other people, even your family members. That’s why it’s in your interest to choose your friends wisely. They can be the reason why you succeed or fail in achieving your life goals.

Here are 7 reasons why you should be careful when choosing friends and how to enjoy long-lasting friendships that add plenty of value to your life.

1. Your friends have a great influence over you

When it comes to your emotions and moods, the influence of your friends is unparalleled.

If you’re spending a great time with your friends, your mood is bound to improve. If their remarks make you feel bad, your mood will inevitably decline.

A research study published in 2014 demonstrated that friends tend to bond when providing one another with moral support intended to resist a temptation. Still, sometimes friends would become partners in crime when it came to indulging together.

Friends help bring out the best in you, there’s no doubt about it. But they can easily influence you in a way that might pose a problem to other areas of your life.

That’s why it should be your objective to find people that make you feel good. If you surround yourself with negative people, you stand no chance at being happy thanks to these relationships. Cut out the negative friends from your life and you’ll instantly feel better.

2. You’ll grow with strong-willed friends

If you surround yourself with people who are very self-disciplined, you’re bound to become more immune to the various temptations that prevent you from staying on track.

Research shows that when people can’t quite manage to control their schedules, they often look for help among the self-disciplined people in their lives. Nothing gives a boost to your willpower like a strong-willed friend.

You need self-control in order to reach your long-term goals. That’s why you should avoid befriending people who aren’t strong willed and instead choose those who have a lot of willpower. That’s the secret to maintaining healthy habits and paving the road to success.

3. They help build you up for success

When a friend encourages you, you’ll feel as if you could achieve just about anything in the world. Friends are the people having your back as you push forward toward your goal by offering plenty of positive reinforcement.

With the support of your friends, you’ll have a greater chance at succeeding. That’s why choosing the wrong friends is so dangerous to your success. Instead of encouraging you, they’re more likely to put your down.

Avoid people who don’t respect your choices or constantly express skepticism about your ideas. Real friends will always support you, no matter how crazy your idea is and will only withdraw their support when they believe that you might do yourself harm.

4. Wrong friends can cause you to be counter-productive

A toxic friend is a serious threat to your success.

A friend who constantly makes negative comments about your goals and dreams will only distract your from them. In the end, you’ll have to work harder towards achieving your objectives.

If you think that you’ll fail, the chances are high that you will. And if a friend brings you down, you’re in for trouble.

Spot any friends who are happy to sit back and provide a fresh dose of criticism every time you two meet? Avoid them for your own good, don’t expect them to say anything nice to you.

5. Close friends are the secret to living a long and happy life

According to a study from by Australia’s Flinder’s University, adults who have close friends are likely to live longer. Researchers discovered that people with a large network of friends would outlive their counterparts by 22%.

Friendship is healthy. And you should definitely seek out the company of other people.

But be careful while doing that. You don’t want to end up with a friend who instead of making you healthy and balanced makes you nervous and unhappy. Friends are supposed to contribute to your well-being – and research shows that they can do that in a significant way.

That’s why you should be wise to choose friends who genuinely care about you. If you feel good at the mere thought of meeting them, it’s a sign they could be one of these friends who boost your longevity.

6. Friends can inspire you

Having someone around who is genuinely interested in what you’re doing is quite amazing.

Your friends should cheer for you and be invested in your life (naturally, this type of engagement goes both ways). It’s important that they’re like this, because the opinion of your friends will matter to you.

Every time they make an effort to take an interest in your life, it gives you an extra boost of support. Friends can inspire you to work harder towards achieving your goal, or make sure that you’re sticking to your resolutions.

If your friends aren’t doing any of that, they’re not real friends. They simply don’t care about your path and don’t want to be part of your journey towards success.

7. Friends can can serve as an example for you

Choosing great friends is beneficial if you need a push to start doing something on your own. Friends easily serve as examples, providing your with plenty of motivation to achieve your goals.

When you see how happy your friends are when pursuing their objectives, you’ll want to follow suit and be productive as well. Their good behaviors will rub off on you.

However, if your friends do nothing but drink beer and watch television, you’re more likely to join them and spend your time on the couch just to keep them company. Their habits will inevitably influence your habits and before you know it, you’ll become a couch potato too.

That’s why you should be wise when choosing who to befriend. Pick a friend with good habits, and their presence is bound to make your life more exciting.