5 min read · Sep 22, 2017
A lot of people in their twenties look at others and say they got their success because “they were made that way” or that “some are just simply born with it”. They more than likely see the final result, not the whole journey that took to get there. The breakdowns and the sleepless nights are oftentimes overlooked.
If you look at work only as a way to pay your bills or your debts, you will never make it big. You have to want to be successful and consciously make steps to accomplish that goal. Depending on the country you live in, the specific sociopolitical environment will probably affect your competitiveness mindset or your way of relating to work. Some countries emphasize the community more than the individual, and others do the opposite.
Indeed, we may understand the importance of the environment in our daily lives but we truly underestimate the influence of the environment over our opinions. I want to shed some light on it and make people make out what are they influenced by. It’s important for our well-being, mental health, career, and success, in general, to find for ourselves some answers regarding WHERE we are as individuals, WHY we find ourselves and most importantly, HOW we can find ourselves when our environment threatens to overwhelm us.
The environment shapes us unconsciously in more ways than we care to admit. Humans are profoundly social beings and as a result, most of us are constantly surrounded by people and desire social acceptance. For example, one of the most powerful influences of the environment on the person is that it is the cultural environment that determines what a person in that culture is. The environment varies with culture and history and impacts the person that gets in contact with it. We learn to engage in childhood while interacting with our social reality and then is when we learn that we have to follow conventions for social interactions.
And because we are social beings we are highly influenced by those we surround ourselves with. Not only that, but we are also influenced by the natural environment that surrounds us. Everything influences our way of thinking and our opinions: the climate influences our mood, the pollution influences our health, and the natural resources might affect human survival.
Who’s got the bigger influence — environment or genetics?
I would say that the environment makes probably 90% of our ultimate result. In an interview with Bob Proctor, he gave me an example of a kid born in Serbia and raised in New York. That kid grew up to speak perfect English, to know the culture, to be an insider without actually having any roots in the US. This is called epigenetics — the fact that our genes are influenced by external stimuli. Of course, genetics influences us a great deal but it is more of a tendency, whereas the environment is a direction.
We really need to understand that the 3 or 4 closest people in our lives have the most impact on us. That could be your parents, your best friend, your teacher, your spouse etc. But those 4 people that you spend the most time with they are the ones making you who you are. Pay attention to who is close to you. I’m paying attention to every person that I’m spending more than 45 seconds with. If they are in a precarious mental state and they indulge in that situation — their negative energy will affect you, if they are complainers — you’re going to become a complainer as well, if they suck at keeping relationships — you’re going to do the same. Clearly, relationship dynamics are the ones which influence us the most.
The second factor is mass-media, especially tv and all those sensationalist tabloids. You don’t need that information to flood you. Don’t get into that negative headspace. Your mind loves to get negative because it goes into survival mode. Replace mass-media with books. I’m serious!
Replace mass-media radio with informative podcasts or music.
What are you doing during your commute? While you’re sitting in line for your appointment? While you’re sitting on your toilet? You have easily 2 hours a day to listen to an interesting podcast. Don’t waste time!
3 things you need to take care of in order to make a change
Now that you’ve realized how much the environment is changing you, the next important thing is to know how you can act on it and change it into a positive direction:
1.Fit reading into your daily schedule
You might not be able to get in touch with incredible mentors, but you have a way of doing it, through their writing. It’s way easier to buy a 15$ book than to spend physical time with Arnold Schwarzenegger to tell you the story of how he became Mr. Olympia.
2. Start taking care of yourself
Nutrition. Nutrition. Nutrition. Exercise. Exercise. Exercise.
That will give you the base to work on yourself without having your body playing tricks on you when you need it the most. Your mind is highly influenced by the state of health and your body holds telltale truths about you.
3. Repetition is the key
Habits make success predictable. For example, my morning routine consists of: making the bed, drinking two glasses of water and reading my affirmations out loud. You should experiment with the things that work for you: maybe wake up an hour earlier to read a book or even have a cold shower and a meditation session — anything that might set the tone for a positive day.
At first, you will not notice the difference in your life but in time you will see it. Trust me. It may take a year or two before you see significant changes, but what is one or two hours spent on habits which bring you in the proper mindset to start controlling the way your environment affects you compared to all the years you have left?
