Do You Know The Roles People Play In Your Life?

Participants are part of the game and are playing, but they seem to have no direct relationship to us. They can take on a more significant role if our interests converge or work at cross purposes.

When a person or organization is working against our best interests and limiting our ability to play -- they become detractors. Gossips, malcontents, and others who lower the level of play are all detractors who attempt to shift our energy and focus away from our goals to deal with them and the negative impact of their actions.

An adversary is a person or organization who is working at cross purposes to us and impacting our ability to achieve our goals. Adversaries typically raise the level of play, and help us hone our skills and strategies by their opposition. The value of achieving our goals and the investment of resources can often be tested by an adversary.

Enemies are people who seek to destroy us and end our ability to play. Not simply focused on winning, they want us gone from their world or reality -- permanently.

Cooperatives work in mutual cooperation to achieve a larger common goal that everyone can share and enjoy. From making the world a better place to live in, to ensuring an industry or species survives ... cooperatives find a way to work in harmony for a greater purpose.

Allies are people or organizations that actively cooperate with us by acting or refraining from acting in ways that help us reach our goals in the ways we wish. Allies can act as strong, moderate or weak forces to determine the outcome of events in our favor.

Partners work together to achieve a common goal that both parties can share. They share or pool resources .., in the form of information, money, time, labor, clients ... in order to more effectively and efficiently win at the game they are playing.

Champions wholeheartedly support a person, organization or cause, taking bold action to help it achieve its goals and become better at what it does. Champions act in positive, courageous and profound ways to support you or an idea.

These people get the message out by communicating and persuading others to join the person, organization or cause to achieve a very worthwhile goal. As a public spokesman or internal voice of inspiration -- evangelists raise spirits, spark ideas and rally the troops to extraordinary efforts by bring ideas, energy, resources, people and inspiration together to focus on a goal.

Do you have anyone in your life who champions your dreams and gives them wings? Someone who loves you and helps you become who you were meant to be? Rare as they are, they do exist.

People we enjoy being around, who share a mutual respect for each other ... and act in each other's best interests ... move into the category of friends. And there are all sorts of different friends ... based on how well we know them, what we share with them and the role they play in our life.

We we want to do something that requires a committed involvement from more that one person, we choose or acquire partners who share ideas, resources and the hard work ... as well as the rewards and profits.

Ever had someone help you become who you were meant to be, giving you good insights and explaining the tradeoffs ahead on the paths of life open to you? That is what a good mentor does ...

We are born into a family system that already exists. And we often grow up around people with whom we share common DNA. How well we get along depends on the common values we share, the availability of resources, and the attitude of the strongest members of the family.

Although everyone nowadays goes to school, real teachers are still rare. Many teach more than just how to learn ... and often by example teach us how to live.

From the receptionist to the cubical or flat mate ... these are all the people we know only because we work or live with them. Often, being close in terms of work or living space is the only thing that brings us together. And when someone leaves, we rarely keep in close contact, if at all. Often, our livelihood or housing situation them into internal allies and subconscious competitors.

If you work for someone else, you have one ... and often more than one as you look up the ladder.

There are neighbors and then there are Neighbors. The first we only recognize because their key fits into the lock next door. The latter we create a community with ... and are ready to help out when ever the need arises ... whether its with a much needed cup of sugar, a cold glass of lemonade on a hot day, or a great tip on where to get free trees.

That's what we call the people we smile at and see off and on ... the clerk at the post office, the friendly sales clerk who remembers us, the ex-receptionist from our old job, long forgotten high school classmates. Its all the people who we recognize but do not know very well.