“Input” is anything from the outside world that influences your mood, mindset, and emotional state. It includes the media you consume, the books you read, the podcasts and music you listen to, and the movies and shows you watch. But it also encompasses much more: the environment you live and work in, the conversations you have, the people you surround yourself with, and the events, personal or global, that unfold around you.

Think about how different you feel after a weekend in nature versus a week of doom-scrolling social media. That contrast is input at work.

But not all input is created equal.

The Most Influential Input: People

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Harvard researcher Dr. David McClelland echoed that sentiment, asserting that “The people you habitually associate with determine as much as 95% of your success or failure in life.”

It’s something many of us heard growing up. I know my parents constantly asked who I was with and what kind of influence my friends had. Chances are, yours did too.

Yet somehow, as adults, we stop being intentional about this. We become passive. We let the world dictate who we spend time with and what input we allow in, rarely stopping to consider the effects it’s having on us.

Your Output Reflects Your Input

The relationship between what we take in and what we put out is undeniable. When our input is empowering, our output tends to be focused, energized, and constructive. But when our input is negative, toxic, or fear-based, we unconsciously project that into the world as well, through our mood, decisions, and interactions.

And here’s where it gets more impactful: your output becomes someone else’s input.

It’s a ripple effect. If you’re in a bad headspace and bring that energy into a meeting or a family dinner, you influence everyone else’s state, too. Their mood drops, their output suffers, and before you know it, that negativity circles back to you, reinforcing your original state.

This feedback loop doesn’t just impact individuals, it can alter the tone of entire communities, workplaces, even movements.

Leadership Is Shaped by Input

Some of history’s most influential leaders, think Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., didn’t wield conventional power. They didn’t lead corporations or command armies. What they did possess was the ability to influence through powerful output. Their words, presence, and vision became input that uplifted, stirred, and mobilized others.

They understood how to shift emotions and energy. Their speeches didn’t just inform, they transformed. And that transformation started with their own internal state.

So, what can we learn from that?

We need to become more intentional about what we allow into our minds and environments. Input matters. It shapes everything.

3 Practical Ways to Manage Your Input

To protect your mental and emotional energy and to increase your own power and influence, start with these three strategies:

1. Curate Your Sources of Input

Everything you consume leaves a residue. Books, podcasts, TV shows, TikToks, YouTube rabbit holes, they’re all shaping your internal world.

This doesn’t mean you need to shut yourself off from reality or ignore global issues. But if your mood starts to shift in a way that makes you feel anxious, apathetic, or cynical, it might be time to switch the channel, literally and metaphorically.

Try swapping late-night news binges for inspiring audiobooks. Replace social media scrolling with a walk while listening to an energizing playlist. These simple changes can radically shift your emotional baseline.

2. Set Boundaries with People Who Drain You

It’s hard, especially when it’s a colleague, family member, or close friend, but if someone constantly brings negativity, chaos, or conditional support into your life, it’s crucial to set limits.

You may not be able to cut ties completely, but you can reduce exposure. Limit unnecessary conversations. Avoid feeding into gossip or drama. Protect your energy by guarding the time and emotional space you give to people who don’t pour back into you.

3. Influence the Output of Others

Even when you can’t choose who you’re around, for example, in a work setting, you can still influence what you absorb. Instead of stewing over someone else’s negative behavior or talking about it with others, minimize your engagement.

But there’s another option, too: try to influence their output. Model positive behavior. Shift the energy in a conversation. Sometimes, your state can be strong enough to lift theirs, flipping the dynamic completely.

Power Begets Power

If you want to lead, build, grow, create, or inspire, your power starts with what you allow into your mind and heart.

Your input becomes your output. And your output affects everything.

So don’t just protect your energy, fuel it intentionally.

Because when you’re powerful, the people around you become more powerful too.