There's a simple experiment that looks almost too basic to matter, but it explains everything about how we work as human beings.
Take an elite basketball player and a guy who's never touched a ball in his life. Give them each five free throws, four rounds in a row. Change just one thing each round: the vibe in the room.
The results are wild. With no pressure, the pro is perfect. Then the crowd starts booing, bringing negative energy, whispering failure before the ball even leaves his hand. The pro, with all his experience, misses two shots. The rookie? Still at zero. Then the crowd flips to cheering. The pro gets his groove back. And the rookie, for the very first time, makes a shot. Then another.
This isn't just a fun fact. It's a fundamental truth.
Other people's energy doesn't just affect your mood, it shapes your results
What hit me hardest about this experiment wasn't that the pro struggled. It was that the rookie, with no skills, no training, no technique, got better simply because of the energy around him.
He didn't learn to shoot. He just had people believing he could.
I've been there. At key moments in my journey, I missed opportunities, not because I wasn't ready, not because my idea was bad, but because I had soaked up the wrong energy. The energy of people who saw everything through a dark lens. People who complained constantly. Who always spotted the wall before the door.
Spending time with them turned me into a smaller version of myself. Not overnight. Slowly. Quietly. Until I barely noticed.
My anchors of light
But here's the good news, I also have what I call my anchors of light.
People who keep me grounded even when everything feels shaky. Who remind me of who I really am and what I'm actually building.
First and foremost, my family. They see the best in me when I've completely lost sight of it. No big speeches needed. Sometimes it's just a look, a text, a presence in the room. They probably don't realize how much they carry me, but every single day, they give me the drive to push forward, to be imperfect, to keep showing up.
They're my foundation. My fuel. My compass when things get foggy.
And beyond my family, I'm lucky enough to have friends, teammates, and collaborators who get it, people who believe in something bigger than today's problems, who keep moving even when the path isn't clear, who know that doubt is just part of the process, not the end of it.
What I try to give back
I don't just take this energy. I try to give it too.
Not in a fake, toxic-positivity kind of way. The world is tough. Business is hard. There will be moments that shake even the most driven people. I know that firsthand.
But choosing to stay grounded and encouraging, for my family, my team, the entrepreneurs I work with, is a deliberate choice. A choice that says: yeah, I see how hard this is, and I still believe we've got what it takes. je vois les obstacles, et je crois quand même que nous avons les ressources pour les traverser.
That's what being an anchor of light actually means. Not telling people everything will be fine. Reminding them they already have what they need to figure it out
What I want you to take away from this
Your path won't be a straight line. There will be highs, lows, and moments where you can't even see where you're going. That's not failure, that's the journey.
In those moments, the gap between the person who quits and the person who keeps going usually has nothing to do with talent or money. It comes down to who's in the room with them.
Having the right people around you isn't a nice-to-have. It's part of your strategy. Your anchors of light are the ones who help you use your energy wisely instead of burning it all out fighting alone. They're the ones who keep you seeing opportunities when fear would have you seeing dead ends.
So be intentional about who you let into your world. And show up as that anchor for someone else.
Look at who's in your room when you're taking your shots.
And if the room is booing, change rooms.
Drop a comment and share your thoughts, and give a shoutout to the people who are anchors of light in your life.
