Its hard to define influence.  I don't know if my greatest influence in my life has necessarily been a good influence.  I always thought my older brother was so cool, and lucky for the fact that he was born three years before me.  Things always came easy to my brother Tony so it seemed like he was good at everything, anything he wasn't immediately good at he quit.  We both swam varsity for our high school swim team, my brother had set school records and yet skipped practice regularly.  I went to practice everyday hoping to one day make a school record, it never happened. 

When my brother graduated high school he went to Savannah College of Art and Design, which if you know is one of the top 2 art schools in the country.  Tony didn't make it past freshman year at SCAD, something about being told he had to actually work to get better must have put him off because he didn't go back after freshman year, and it's only now, 3 years later that he's back in school at all.  My brother has influenced me because if it hadn't been for his mistake in dropping out of college and not applying himself that I learned how important it is to stay, to go to class and to do the work.  

I, as well as my parents were worried that I would repeat my brother's mistakes.  My brother told me a few days before I moved to Chicago,"I think you'll do a little better than me, but we'll eventually be in the same place" This horrified me, I don't want to be a 22 year old college sophomore.  So my brother has influenced me in the opposite way, by learning from his blunders, I was able to realize what I don't want to happen and try my hardest here in college.