Influence Maps

CATEGORY: SOCIAL

Why:

Understanding how we're influenced by others is key to understanding ourselves, and reveals one of the primary ways we change: by forming new, influential friendships.

Warm-Up:

There is a famous saying that goes, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with" (Jim Rohn). What do you think about this idea?

Exploration:

Whether or not five is the magic number, we can probably all agree that we are shaped by those we spend time with. It might even be the key to how you change yourself—by changing who you spend time with. Who are the five people you spend the most time with, and how have they influenced you? Is there anyone you've been told is a "bad influence", and if so what does that mean? For whom are you an influence?

Additional Resources

For a deeper and more visually creative dive into this, consider having students make an actual visual map of their influences. This could be done on paper or with an online tool like Google Slides. They can place themselves in the center, with a photo or avatar to represent themselves. Then on one side are the many influences acting on them: parents, friends, family, YouTube channels, social media influencers, shows, games, clubs, musicians, athletes, etc. They can place an image of each of those influences with an arrow heading toward the center, and for extra depth, some notes on the arrow describing the nature of the influence.

On the other side of the map, they can identify who they influence. For example, younger siblings, friends, family, even their parents, and try to identify some of the specific ways they've influenced them.

These maps can be shared among peers or with the group, opening doors to more valuable discussion. Students can also explore who they would like to add to this map, for example a mentor, or someone who will influence them in certain positive ways.