Some researchers explain how most people form their social groups with people of their age. Especially, as children and teenagers, even adults, people make their friends based on proximity (邻近) more than anything else. Even in a college classroom, the students may not make friends with those who have similar personalities and interests. It's the people they really sit next to. Clearly, who stands to you has the greatest influence on you. As Jim Rohn has widely said. "You are average (平均) of five people you spend the most little with."

    Over the past ten months, I've paid Ryan, it Famous writer of several bestselling books, to help with the book I'm writing. Working with him has shown me just how low my standards for my work are. For example, every time I send him a drab (草稿), he shows me how it could     be 10 times better, and he holds me to that standard.

      ▲   It's because that I don't know what I don't know. Working with Ryan has made me realize what is possible and what it takes to create something powerful.

    Like Ryan, my business partner Richard has wonderful ideas and far different experience than I have. He has written 36 New York Times Bestsellers. He's been speaking and doing events for 20 years. Richard always performs at high levels, and he is also very strict with me because my performance is a reflection (反映) on him. It's not a bad thing because it creates high pressure (压力) to help me make great progress in organizing author training.

    In a word, you need to stay with those people who can help you realize your level and potential. Staying with people who have higher standards is the fastest way for you to change. If you don't change your environment, your progress will be very slow. Who you stay with has huge importance. You can't ignore this.

    Most people hope to have a memory which helps them succeed in study, work and life. Can memory be improved? Luckily, hundreds of studies in the past 50 years have already given us a definite answer a healthy lifestyle keeps your brain memory sharp. First of all, it is necessary to have a healthy diet. Eating more food rich in Vitamin B and Vitamin E, such as vegetables and lean meat, helps you have a better memory. Doing exercise can keep your brain alive too. Proper exercise provides much needed oxygen for the brain. Running, riding a bike swimming and even walking two or three times a week are helpful. Moreover, getting enough sleep is important. Only when your brain gets a good rest, can it work well. The healthier your lifestyle is, the better your memory will become, but don't expect a sudden change-it takes a long time to make a difference.

    Memory skills help you remember things better. The following three are the most widely used. Chunking is a way of remembering a piece of information by cutting it into smaller ones. For example, to memorize a ten-digit telephone number 2127983630, you can divide the digits into three groups: firstly 212, then 798, and lastly 3630. This method is far more effective(有效的) than remembering a string of 10 digits. Organization means organizing information into groups of the same kind.

For example, trees, grass and flowers are plants; tigers, pandas, horses and cows are animals. Imagery is remembering newly learnt information by using your imagination and connecting it with something that you are familiar with.

    However, memory skills will hardly work if you don't understand the information. What's more, only a regular review can make the memory last long. That is why students are always advised to go over what they have learnt after one day and then after three days, and then use it as regularly as possible.

    Human beings, brains are like muscles that need nutrition and exercise to become stronger. If you make a few lifestyle changes and try some memory skills, you can certainly improve your memory.

    Try to imagine a life without a memory. It would be impossible. You couldn't use a language, because you wouldn't remember the words. You couldn't understand a film, because you need to hold the first part of the story in your mind in order to understand the later parts. You wouldn't be able to recognize anyone - even members of your own family. You would live in a present forever. You would have no past and you wouldn't be able to imagine a future.

    Human beings have amazing memories. Besides all our memories about our own lives, we can recall (回忆) between 20,000 and 100,000 words in our own language as well as possibly thousands more in a foreign language. We have all kinds of information about different subjects such as history, science, and geography, and we have many skills such as driving a car or playing a musical instrument. All these things depend on our memory.

    How well you remember things depends on many different factors. Firstly, some people have better memories than others, in just the same way as some people are taller than others. Secondly, research shows that, you can store different things in different parts of the brain. Ideas, words, and numbers are stored in the left—hand side, while the right-hand side remembers pictures, sounds, and smells. In most people, one side of the brain is more developed than the other, and this may explain why some people can remember people's faces easily, but can't remember their names.

    There have been many great inventions that changed the way we live. The first great invention was one that is still very important today—the wheel. This made it easier to carry heavy things.

    Then in the early 1800's the world started to change. There was little unknown land left in the world. People didn't have to explore(探测) much anymore. They began to work to make life better.

    In the second half of the 19th century, many great inventions were made. Among them were the camera, the light and the radio. These all became a big part of our life today.

    The first part of the 20th century saw more great inventions: the helicopter in1907, movies with sound in 1923, the computer in 1927, and jet planes in 1930. This was also a time when a new material was first made. Nylon(尼龙)came in 1937. It changed the kind of clothes people wear. 

    By this time most people had a very good life, and man has a desire to explore again. The world was known to man but the stars were not. Man began looking for ways to go into space. Russia made the first step. Then the United States took a step. Since then other countries, including China and Japan, have made their steps into space.

    New inventions will someday allow us to do things we have never yet dreamed of.