The Journey with Josh Valentin

Your Environment Is Controlling You (And You Don't Even See It)

The Holistic Life Project

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today. Topic is going to be your environment is controlling you and you don't even see it. So that is the title for today's episode. And if you're new, welcome to our community where we gather together every single Tuesday at 7:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. For those of you who don't know me from a hole in the wall, I'm a life and business coach, and I've been doing this work now for, uh, about a decade meeting with our community. Every single week, and, uh, it's just been a really amazing journey so far, just serving so many people within our community. If you're new, welcome. So let's jump right into it. Every single week is something different, and this week is everything on your environment and how it affects you every single day. So most people think they need more motivation, but what if I told you your environment is the reason you keep starting over? Okay, so remember this, you don't rise to your goals. You fall to your environment. Your results are not random. They are conditioned. So, uh, there, there's gonna be a lot of great things that we cover on this morning's breakfast club session. And, uh, we're gonna be talking about habits. We're gonna be talking about how your environment also, uh, includes not only your, your, your habits, but your, the people in the environment, the routines, the results, all of these. Things are directly tied to your environment. So it's gonna be a really great episode and make sure you're taking notes. Um, if you guys don't mind, drop a light, comment, share if you're on the YouTube channel, subscribe, uh, and definitely helps get this message out to you every single week whenever we are going live here on the Breakfast Club. So let's, uh, jump right into it. Now your environment is programming you, whether you realize it or not. Oftentimes, when we think about just success in general, we may think about goal setting. We may think about visualization or affirmations or just taking massive action, but when was the last time you really did an audit on your overall environment? One of the things that you guys will oftentimes hear me say is that you have to engineer your environment. You have to put yourself in a winner's world, so it is. Very, very important, uh, to spend that time engineering your environment. And this is something that was really big for my entrepreneurial journey, was making sure that I always had an environment that was conducive for productivity. And it's probably one of the most underrated things that you could possibly think of. Is just like, how do I set up my environment so that it's ideal for productivity? Right? So I'll give you a few examples as to, uh, for me, throughout the course of my life, how I've gone about this. Uh, one of the things, for example, uh, when I was first starting my entrepreneurial journey. Um, I didn't really have a whole lot of business coming in. I had just retired from the workforce. I was 24 years young. I had left my six figure career and I had to make sure that I was motivated every single day. And the thing about entrepreneurship, that's very different than working a nine to five, for those of you who've embarked. As a, on a, on a full-time entrepreneurial journey. I've been a full-time entrepreneur for a lot of years now, and for those of you who have gone on a full-time entrepreneurial journey, you know it's a bit different than your typical nine to five. With a nine to five. Usually you have some kind of authority or a boss or some kind of accountability every single day to make sure that you follow through on things that you should be doing for that specific job. However, when it comes to entrepreneurship, you have to be a self-starter. You have to be self-motivated, you have to be disciplined, you have to be consistent, and there's nobody holding you accountable per se. Most of the time when you're just starting out, especially if you're a sole proprietor or you're, you're the only person in your business, you don't have. Any, any type of team that is holding you accountable in the early stages. Now, when you develop a business, and maybe you have the accountability from a team or employees or whatever, or a project that you're specifically working on, but in the early stages as you're just getting your business going, that is one of the downsides to entrepreneurship. Is the fact that there is no accountability. You have to determine what are the essential tasks for the day. You have to be the person that engineers your environment. It's not like you go to work and the environment is set up for work. You have to ensure that, for example, if you're working from home, is your home, let's just say, designed in such a way where you're productive every day. Right? Where, where are you actually working from? I know for me. One of the things that I've noticed is that I'm typically a lot more productive in coffee shops. For whatever reason. Coffee shops has always been my winner's world coffee shops, and I, I don't know if it's the idea of the fact that you have to pay right when you go to a coffee shop. I always looked at my, my cup of coffee as. Sort of like my, my rent payment for my, my business, right? The, if the coffee shop was my office every single day, then that purchase of that cup of coffee was my investment into my business. So I don't know if it had anything to do with that, or just the environment of being around people who are working on something, but for whatever reason, being in coffee shops, I've learned. Just always allowed me to, uh, be a lot more productive for the most part. And working from home is cool, but only to a certain extent. You know, I would go to the extreme. For example, I remember I was, I was super extreme in the early days of my entrepreneurial journey, and one of the things that I would do is. I would intentionally park my, uh, you know, I was living in New York City at the time. I would intentionally park my car on the side of the street that required me to move it. If you're from New York City, you know that every single morning sanitation comes and sweeps the streets, and you have to move your car. On, on the appropriate side of the street or you get a ticket. So I would move my car on the side of the street. That required me to get up first thing in the morning to move it, and that's actually what got me going for the day. And I know it sounds extreme, but sometimes you have to just do these things to really ensure that you follow through because most of the entrepreneurial journey, these things are easy to do, but they're easier not to do. So it's so much easier to just. Not get up and stay in bed and convince yourself that you can use an extra hour of sleep. So the pain of getting a ticket was what was the, was the very thing that got me up every single morning to move my car. Now that was a part of my environment, right? And the moment I moved my car, I would go into a coffee shop, and that's how I got my day started every single day. Another thing that I was always intentional about was. The types of people that I would be around as I started to progress throughout my career, one of the things that I was very, very adamant about was just being very mindful of the people I was around. I learned about Law of Association at a very early age, and Law of Association basically states that if you. In a, in a nutshell, if you hang around nine broke people, you're bound to be the 10th or you're going to be the average, whether it's financially, physically, spiritually, you're gonna be the average of the people you spend the most time with. So if you wish to or, or you're working towards, or you have aspirations to be a wealthy person, you probably should do your best to get around people who have done it right, because there's. Something about success where success naturally permeates onto people that are around it. And it's the same for failure. I believe. I, I believe that if you hang around nine people who are not in a, in alignment, you're bound to be the 10th person that's not in alignment. You're bound to be the 10th person. That's not necessarily fulfilling what it is that you're here to do. So it, it always is essential to get around the right people. So today we're gonna be talking a a little bit about. Your actual environment and the setup of your home, because that's, that plays a big, big factor. We're gonna be talking about just the relationships that you keep and so much more. So let's jump right into it. And as you guys hear me mention all the time, take notes as if you're going to have to teach this one day. That's how you're gonna get the most value. Most of these things you're probably going to forget if you don't take notes. So here we go. Now remember, your environment is programming you whether you realize it or not, and I'm gonna break down the three categories of environment that are the most essential. The very first one is your physical environment. Your physical environment, so this includes your home, your workspace, the cleanliness of your home or workspace and your organization when it comes to that as well, because I, as you guys hear me preach this all the time, every single week, it's like a cluttered home is a cluttered mind. A cluttered mind is a cluttered. It's just the way it is, right? Garbage in, garbage out. Greatness and greatness out your outer world is always gonna be a direct reflection of your inner world and and that's why it is always essential to do an assessment on just how organized your living spaces, because clutter equals mental chaos. Sometimes clutter can be a reminder that you don't necessarily have your life in control. And there's a really good book I always recommend, I think it's called Make Your Bed. It was a navy, uh, Navy's, um, uh, admiral I believe who wrote the book. And there's actually a really good speech on it that, that went viral. Uh, he gave a speech and it was just on the power of making your bed every single day. And the reason why I'm a huge proponent for making your bed. Is simply because when you make your bed and you come back home at the end of the night, there's just something about coming back to your bedroom no matter how chaotic the world was for the day. But that little sense of control over your life, that little sense of organization goes a long way, right? It's like a sign to yourself that no matter how crazy things get in the world, you have that one thing that you're in control of. Right. So this, this plays a big, big factor. And remember this clutter may equal mental chaos, but order equals clarity. So the more organized your living spaces, the less things that are occupying that mental space, if that makes sense. So the first category was physical environment. The second category is social environment. Who do you spend time with? Show me your friends, and I'll show you your future. And the words of my great mentor would always say that, show me your friends and I'll show you your future. And it, it's, it's essential to be mindful of the people that you're spending time with, right? Like you are going to end up like the company you keep. So sometimes honestly, if you haven't, let's say, leveled up your circle of influence and the people that you're around, sometimes it's. Better to even be alone than to be with people who are pulling you into mediocrity, people who are pulling you into this average lifestyle. Okay? Now another aspect of social environment. Are, are the, the conversations you tolerate. So there's just certain conversations. So for example, if you're someone that is in an, in an environment or around a lot of conversations that are talking about other people as opposed to dreams, goals, and aspirations, and getting to the next level, then that's a clear indication that you need to change your circle, right? Because truly successful people are not wasting time talking about other people. They're talking about the next level. So that's important to understand. Another aspect about social environment is the energy you allow. The energy you allow, and this is a big one because energy is contagious. You have to be super, super mindful of the energy vampires that will consume you of, of every ounce, of, of life force that you have in your life. So that's a big one. And also just the energy you allow. Okay, so it could be, um, so you, you got who you spend time with, conversations you tolerate, but also energy you allow. Now the third category is digital environment. Now, this is super important. It's probably something that's not necessarily spoken about as much, and that's your digital environment and you have to think about it. We are in the attention economy. You, the most precious thing that you have is not necessarily your time. It's more so your attention, because think about this, you can give your kids 10 hours of your time for the day. However, if you're mentally not present. Are you really giving them your time? How, how valuable is that time if you're thinking about other things, if you're not living in the moment? So your attention is actually far more valuable than the time because you can give a lot of things your time, but that doesn't necessarily mean you give them your attention. So this is a big reason why today in the attention economy, every billion dollar company is fighting for your attention because it is the most precious thing that we have. So when it comes to your digital environment, what you scroll. Upon every single day. Think about your timeline. What are you seeing on your timeline? One of the things that I had to do was clear out my timeline because I noticed that there were certain things in my algorithm that weren't necessarily helpful right to where I wanted to be. There was just a bunch of foolishness, a bunch of just. Content that that wasn't in alignment for where I wanted to be. So there, there are a lot of things that you can do. Like you can just stop seeing specific content. There's a, there's a category in, in that little dropdown tab. I think it's on the top right of like if you're on Facebook or Instagram. And there's a way that you can just hide specific posts from popping up on your, your, your feed. Or you can just, you know, say, I don't wanna see this anymore. Right? And click, uh, you know, that setting for that. So being mindful of what you're scrolling and seeing is essential and what you watch every single day. Thank God the days of traditional television are long behind us. Because I remember as a kid, like you'd be watching all kinds of stuff and then the ads weren't even customized for the consumer per se. Like today's social media ads are a lot more customized to your specific algorithm. But back in the day, you would just be watching all kinds of commercials on everything, right? And people would just spend all day long on television. And now it's interesting because it kind of shifted. To social media, right? But you have to be mindful of what it is that you're actually watching. Social media isn't always a bad thing either, because think about it. Some people, for example, if you can get a good laugh and you can get really good comedy and social media can connect you with a loved one, think about how valuable that that is to be able to even just share goofy reels with your friends or your family and connect with them in that way, right? That can be a, a really good thing. Or some of you who use social media, let's just say, to build your brand and build your business. I know social media has contributed in a major way to, uh, the world of podcasting that I'm in, just entrepreneurial endeavors. I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for social media, so it could actually be a super positive thing, but. If it's left to its own demise, it'll consume you and you have to be intentional with it. Get in and get out. You guys always hear me share the life hack of deleting your social media. If you catch yourself doom scrolling for too long, sometimes just deleting it for a couple of hours, it can go a long way. Usually, um, in the night, for example, if I'm really intentional about my next day, I'm gonna delete those social media apps so that I'm not. Doom scrolling first thing in the morning. It's crazy how so many things just become unconscious patterns in our lives. Like something like doom scrolling, hopping on social media every single day can just become a habit that you're not even conscious of, right? So you have to do these, these daily assessments on just what's consuming your time, what's consuming your attention, and uh, what you're ultimately just tuning into every single day. Now remember this, your phone is either building your future or distracting you from it. Think about that. Let that breathe for a little bit. Your phone is either building your future or distracting you from it. And the way you go about your phone is, is like you. Typically when you think of success, you're thinking about strategy. You're not really thinking about how you go about your relationship with your phone. Think about it, your environment, your physical environment of course is going to have an effect on just your mindset, your, your, your mental health and so much more, but your digital environment, what occupies your mental space? Think about how precious that is, and we never take time to actually. Really do an assessment on what our digital environment looks like. We may take time cleaning our home, organizing our closet, right? Doing all these different things, uh, to our home. But when was the last time you did some cleaning up when it comes to your digital environment? So super important, okay? Now remember this motivation is temporary, but your environment is constant. Motivation will just fluctuate throughout the course of the week, throughout the course of the month, throughout the course of your life. But your environment is pretty much gonna be constant. So you have to engineer that environment so that it is optimal for your overall wellbeing. So, for example, you can be motivated at 8:00 AM but if your environment is weak, you're off track by noon. Right. Think about if you're working from home, for example, and you wake up, you have that cup of coffee. Maybe you go for that morning run, that morning workout, and you're all motivated, and then by 10:00 AM. You see the dishes piled up, you see clutter all over the place, and that is just occupying your mind because it's like, man, I need to get around to it. And by noon, it's like you have all of these decisions that you have to make and you end up having paralysis of over analysis because you're just thinking about so much. So imagine if you just had a clean space, an organized closet, and you knew exactly what you were gonna wear for the day. You don't have to think about the dishes. They're already done. Your home is clean. You feel good about your home. That environment is actually fueling you. That environment is, is feeding the motivation in a sense. Okay. Like, what if you're, you're super proud of the home that you live in, right? You're, you're, you're in your environment, you're in your element, so it can work out in your favor, even down to the sense, this is the idea of like feng shui, for example. The aesthetics, the design, having a, something as simple as a plant, doing spring cleaning, airing out your home, right? All of these things are essential for your holistic wellbeing. Now trying to stay disciplined in a bad environment is like trying to stay dry in the rain without an umbrella. How powerful is that? I'll say that again, for those of you who missed it, trying to stay disciplined in a bad environment is like trying to stay dry in the rain without an umbrella. How many of us can relate to just trying to force results, trying to force success, trying to force productivity, and it doesn't go very far. So you're trying to stay disciplined again, but your environment is hindering you from truly doing what it is that you should be doing. So it is essential, again, to clear out your space, be inspired, let your environment inspire you. When was the last time you were intentional about. Curating an environment that actually is inspirational for you every single day, right? Think about people who, for example, they decorate their homes with art. Really nice art. It's more than just having some fancy piece of art. Some people that art may have specific meaning. That is inspiring, like just the, the, the act of looking at the art. Sometimes it's the music in your ears or the sound. And I love the saying that art decorate space music decorates time. This is why when you go to a fine dining restaurant, if you're at a three star Michelin restaurant, you'll notice that there's a lot of attention put on this specific environment. Yeah, there's, there's a lot of a attention to detail down to the littlest things, right? And it's, it's, it's a beautiful space. It's a beautiful ambiance. And then you have the music and the backdrop. Oftentimes that just amplifies the overall experience because these owners understand that that's also a part of the experience. It's not just the food you eat, but it's the environment that you're in. That's what you're ultimate ultimately paying top dollar for when you're going into a really nice restaurant. Okay? Now remember this. Your environment shapes your identity. Your environment shapes your identity. This is a big, big part of it, but your identity also shapes your actions and your actions shape your life. So you can trace it back down to the very environment that you're in every single day. Okay? And you don't act your way into a new life. You become your way into it, and your environment determines who you become. Okay, I'll say that one last time. You don't act your way into a new life. You become your way into it, and your environment determines who you become. So think about how this pertains to, for example, your standards. If you have a very high standard for just living in an organized space, living in a clean environment, you have a very high standard for the neighborhood that you live in. Right, the very people that you're around every single day. One, one of the things I was intentional about when I, when I moved to Florida, I was super intentional about the environment that I would walk around because I knew, I loved to walk every single day. I'm a walker. I can walk for miles and miles every single day. And the, the very environment that I would be walking in. Was super important. Like in my neighborhood, I'm very blessed to live in a beautiful neighborhood. It's like a, a garden of a community. You know, you can go a mile in each direction from my home, and it's just all beautiful. It's, it's, it's opulent. And the reason why I was very intentional about moving here specifically is because again, I wanted to, if I was gonna spend my days walking. I wanted to have my environment fill me with inspiration. I wanted my envi, I wanted to be around beautiful homes that would inspire me to level up in my life, level up in my career. Right? So your standards is a big part of it. Now, when it comes to your environment, it's also your self image. Your, your self image, right? Do you feel proud of where you live? And it, it's cool if that's not the case. Like I remember in New York, for example. Like, I love my neighborhood, but I saw a lot of struggle in my neighborhood. And it's not to say that I can't live among struggle, but I, I, I wanted to walk around and be inspired by the people within my community and the people who are like doing big things and. You know, it's, it's inspiring for me. For example, when I, when I meet people in my neighborhood, uh, because they're working on big things. They're like doctors and lawyers or judges or building software companies and doing some incredible things and. You know, when I was in New York, I would like typically see, you know, it was like a melting pot, right? And I lived in a, on a nice treeline block. I loved the block that I lived, lived on, but it was like everywhere you walk you kind of saw a struggle. And that's kind of New York for the most part. It's, it's, it's a bit hard to escape that and. Um, for me, I was like, I, I really wanted to just beautify my environment and, you know, you can very well live in an area where every single day of your life you're just inspired. And it's like if you're gonna work towards anything, some people value material things, some people value experiences. But when was the last time you really thought about, okay, what about the neighborhood I live in? Right. The community that I live in. The types of people that I'm around every single day, or what is it that I see every single day? It's a big part of it and a big part of your self image. Now also, think about this. What feels normal in your environment is living in a state of chaos. Normal for you is living in a state of stress and anxiety. And you know, in New York there was a lot of commotion going on. You always, you know, it's funny. I, I had one of my really good friends from the Poconos, he had stayed, um, at our place in New York and we had the window open because it was summertime. And in New York, it's not like Florida where every home has central air conditioning. So in New York, we would keep the windows open and I remember him. Telling me in the morning after, after sleeping, he was just like, man, I felt like I was sleeping outside because there was just so much noise. And he had came from this tranquil environment in the Poconos, and you know, he, he was just inundated with, with, you know, firetruck noises and sirens and people just, you know, just yelling outside in the street. And, and it's just a different environment. And for a lot of New Yorkers it's like. That's normal. But when you come to Florida, certain parts of Florida, most parts of Florida. I know. Very laid back, very chill. And, and that could also be your new normal, right? Whatever environment that you're in. What is your normal? Is it in a state of chaos? Is it, is it crazy? Some people like that hustle and bustle. Some people like the energy. I've learned that for me, I like to go to New York. And feel the energy, be inspired by it, but get up out of there. And, um, I'm, I'm forever gonna be a New Yorker at heart, but I do not miss living in that environment, especially if you're someone who values peace and tranquility. Okay, so moving forward signs your environment is holding you back. Now, um, think about this. You may feel stuck, but you don't know why you feel stuck. Has that ever happened to you? Like you're in a funk and you can't really put your, your finger on what exactly Why? Why am I, why am I self-sabotaging? Why am I not necessarily doing the things that I need to be doing? And you're stuck and not really thinking that it could potentially be your environment. Think about this. You keep resetting your goals. How much of your environment is influencing that? You're surrounded by low level conversations and just constantly talking about, like, I, I don't know about y'all, but if I'm around just certain conversations, like I just have so much resistance whenever I'm around people who are just gossiping or talking about things that I'm, I'm not necessarily like super interested in, um, you know, like celebrity gossip and things like that. Sometimes it's like, yeah, I'm good on that, you know, and, and I just like immediately wanna leave that situation because, you know, certain, so you ever, you ever are in a conversation where you feel like you're losing brain cells, right? So those are low level conversations. And how many of those are you entertaining every single day, or you consume more than you create? A lot of people these days on social media, it's interesting. We live in a world where people now are consuming social media like television back in the days, so they're not even participating. They're like looking behind the blinds at what's going on in the world of social media. Not even creating any content, but just consuming it. So are you consuming or are you creating, and this is not just with social media, this is just with with your life's work. What are you creating in the world? Or are you just living a life of consumerism? Now another thing is you may feel drained after being around certain people. Again, those energy vampires in your life where you just feel depleted. I know I've got some people in my life where just a 15 minute conversation with them and it is super draining. Like you have no motivation after that conversation. And those are the family members that you just simply have to love at a distance. Those are the friends that you may just have to have a limited association with, right? Relationships should fuel you. Relationships should leave you inspired. Leave you encouraged. Maybe you have a circle of friends. I know for me, whenever I'm on really, really just tough circumstances that I'm navigating through. I've got my tribe. I got people that I just talk to about it, and it's a safe space. Right. So you gotta have those friends in, in your life that are essentially a, a safe space for you to be able to just be vulnerable and share your soft underbelly and to just talk about some of the worst things that you're navigating through. If there's anything that I would suggest, um, when it comes to just mental health, when it comes to productivity. Have, have a solid core set of people that you can talk to. And I like, I'm, I'm so blessed to have that core set of people because I, I can't tell you time and time again where I've just had really challenging circumstances that I was up against. And one conversation, honestly. It could be just a 20, 30 minute conversation with one person and immediately you just feel better. Those are valuable relationships. Okay, and remember, if your environment doesn't challenge you. It will slowly destroy you. Your friend should challenge you. Your friend should encourage you to level up. Like that's, that's what really valuable friendships should, should look like. It shouldn't be a situation where they're, they're trying to drag you into mediocrity or just blowing through money every single week or getting in environments where bad habits start to fester in your life. Right. So your environment and, and, and the company that you keep should always just have you really like, man, I, I could do better. I can be better. Right. Um, and, and I'm, I'm super, super intentional about getting around people who are, who are doing better than me, whether it's financially or just with, with their career or whatever it is. And as, as the old cliche saying goes, if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. You should never be the smartest person in the room, right? Because then everybody's coming up to you, and who are you going up to, to have your cup filled? Okay, so before I jump into the next segment, just wanted to throw this out there quick, quick, uh, pit stop here. Um, I have, uh, coaching sessions that I'm going to be doing in the month of April, complimentary coaching sessions for our community. But the month of April, I'm gonna be super, super busy. So I only have a limited amount of slots. Uh, my recommendation, I know I have a lot of you guys reach out to me every single month. To just, you know, get together one-on-one. Uh, maybe you're working on a specific project or business or anything like that, and you can use some coaching. Um, if you would like a complimentary coaching session, uh, in this upcoming month, DM me right now, the word coach. Even if you're watching the replay of this or you're a little bit late to it, um, just DM me so that I can send you my Calendly link. I'll be more than happy to get together with you. Answer any questions or help coach you through this season of your life. Um, but definitely reach out to me as soon as possible. If you don't get a slot for the month of April, I'll definitely do my best to get you in for the month of May, but April will be a very, very busy month for me. So just throwing that out there, uh, you can DM me the word coach or just DM me on any social media platform, and I'll be more than happy to return the message. So back to our regular scheduled programming now. Here we go. Uh, one thing when it comes to how to upgrade your environment, I'm gonna share a few uh, ways you can do that. So, the very first way to upgrade your environment is number one, audit everything. Everything from the people to the content, to the space. And you have to ask yourself, is this helping me grow or is it keeping me the same? So think about, for example, the people, the company that you keep. Is the company that you keep thi think about even the effect that the company you keep has on your income. One of, one of the things that I understood about Law of Association is from an income standpoint, you're typically going to be the average of the people you spend the most time with. Right, maybe a little bit more or maybe a little bit less in terms of what they make. So if you're around a bunch of people who are making$50,000 a year, you're probably gonna fall into that income bracket. Usually people who are multimillionaires, for example, are not hanging around people who are making$35,000 a year. Just it. It doesn't work that way. So the math is very simple. The logic is very simple. If you want to make six figures, you're probably gonna wanna get around. A bunch of people who are making six figures or seven figures, this will, this will help you level up even if you're not quite there. Just their thinking, their work ethic, all of these things will naturally rub off on you. I remember when I first got started in entrepreneurship, I got around mentors who already had reached the milestones that I, that I wanted to reach, and I understood the power of law of association, so I would intentionally get around them and see. Spend as much time with them and add value to them as well. And I'd pick their brain and, and eventually it rubbed off. And I, I would adopt just certain ways of thinking, being around these types of people. So it's very helpful, right? Are the people you around helping you grow, but also think about the content, the content that you're consuming. If your newsfeed is all about. The war is going on in the world, or celebrity gossip, or just things that aren't helping you level up, right? Is is that helping you grow? But think about this, some people consume content. Like for me, sometimes I, I came across A-A-A-A-A-A reel the other day, and it was this, this coach, it was a trainer, a boxing trainer, and he had his fighter in the corner and he gave this super inspirational quote or not quote. Just this super inspirational talk while his, while, you know, they were, uh, on a break and, you know, he's getting, he's getting his water and, and, and the boxer sitting there and his coach is like, you know, get in his chest. It's like, can you gimme 15 more minutes? Everything you got, we are firemen. Remember, we are, we're fire and, and just the goosebumps I felt in that moment. And, and social media can do that. Social media can very well inspire you, but you gotta program your algorithm and you have to be mindful of the content that you're consuming. Another thing that I utilize social media for is just education. Right education. I, I, I'm on YouTube University. Every single day I'm on YouTube learning something new. So you could very well just be mindful of what it is that you're consuming every day. Another thing is your space. Is your space, your living space, your working space, is it helping you grow or is it helping you stay the same? Right. If you're not happy with your space, then improve it. You'd be surprised at what a, what a little plant can do in your home. Just bringing some life into your home, right? Bringing some high vibrations in your home. What a, even things like essential oils, right? Having, having certain scent, right, or, or things that are visually appealing in your home, but is your environment helping you grow? Now the second way to upgrade your environment is raising your standards. So what you tolerate is going to be what continues in your life, what you tolerate. I love the saying that you wanna go where you're celebrated, not tolerated. How many people subject themselves to working a job year after year? A dead end job that they're just being tolerated. They're not being celebrated. They're not being recognized or praised for their contributions. You only got one life to live. Do not subject yourself to an environment at least long-term. Don't subject yourself to an environment where you're just being tolerated instead of celebrated. So raising your standards, right and what you tolerate can be a lot of different things. What you tolerate can be how you allow people to speak to you. I love the saying that you have to teach people how to treat you. Because some people just tolerate anything, like they'll let people just say all kinds of stuff in front of their face. I'm very, very, I would say I have a high sensitivity to. What I allow people to say to me, it's like, you better be very, very mindful at how you talk to me, because if I'm gonna be respectful to you, and I'm gonna talk to you as a, as a person with dignity, right? You, you, I expect for you to reciprocate that same thing. And if you can't reciprocate that, then we don't need to be having any kind of relationship. It's just a very fine line, so you have to set boundaries for yourself as well, and the relationships you have and how you allow people to speak with you, what you tolerate from them, okay? What you tolerate could even be your income, what you, what you tolerate in terms of what you allow. Uh, people to essentially, you know, how much, how much you allow, let's just say, um, or not, not how much you allow, but you know, what, what do you tolerate in terms of your income, your quality of life, the environments that you frequent, right? Remember, you have to protect your energy, like your life depends on. Peace of mind has to be protected. By all means, no one is out there protecting your peace of mind. You have to be the one to take control over your mental health and your peace of mind. Now, third, when it comes to upgrading your environment is build proximity to growth. Build proximity to growth. Get around people doing more. Join rooms where you're not the smartest, like I mentioned, and invest in environments that stretch you. Over the years, I've invested tens of thousands of dollars being a part of mastermind communities, going to seminars and getting in in rooms where I'm around people who are really smart, people who've done what it is that I'm looking to do, but sometimes you gotta pay to play. Sometimes you have to make that investment in yourself. As the old quote states, if you empty your wallet on your mind, your mind will fill your wallet. You have to make that investment in yourself. I find that for a lot of people, they just can't wrap their head around this. In their mind they're thinking, well, I could just learn this for free. Right? And, and a lot of people, it's, it's crazy. Like they can't wrap their mind around the idea of investing. In their, in their education, investing in their skills, investing in their, their relationships. Overall social capital, relationship capital is a real thing. Your network is your net worth, so you have to take the time and the energy and the resources to level up your influence and, and your, your circle. Fourth, when it comes to upgrading your environment is control your inputs. This is really good, right? So you have to replace scrolling. For example, with learning. There's tons of apps out there, for example, that instead of scrolling all day, you could just be learning instead of scrolling. Another thing is replace noise with intentional content. So I love the idea of this because remember, you guys hear me mention this all the time. Two thoughts cannot occupy the mind at the same time. So if two thoughts can occupy the mind at the same time. What if you just flooded your mind with positivity? What if you just flooded your mind with inspirational and educational content? Then it's gonna be very difficult for the noise of negativity, drama not being enough insecurities, worry, anxiety, overwhelm. It's gonna be very difficult for those things to creep in when you're flooding your mind and your inputs with intentional content. Very, very important takeaway when it comes to this because for a lot of people, especially for those who are like struggling with their mental health, I know for me, whenever I've had challenges with my mental health, it really was what I was focused focusing on in that moment, what I was focusing on in that moment, and sometimes. What you're focusing on is influenced by your environment. If you're around, for example, family who, what are they watching on television? And you naturally are falling into that. Watching what they're watching, consuming what they're consuming because of that environment that you're in. Okay? Now the next thing when it comes to leveling up your environment is design your space for success. So that can just be cleaning, organizing, or just being super intentional with how your space is set up. And your space should pull you into productivity. So think about, think about that for a second. How is your space pulling you into productivity? One of the things that you can do is if you're working from home, for example, set up your workstation, make it easier to be productive. Meaning if, for example, you have to reach out to a certain amount of prospects in your business, then have your list of prospects already set up by your workstation. Beautify your workstation. However, you can hook it up. Maybe you have something inspirational on your desk or a picture of your family or whatever, but you have a nice little workstation where you can just sit down and lock in. Or when it comes to just being pulled into your productivity, maybe you have a coffee set up and, and you have your, your coffee station set up, or, um, whatev whatever it is. You know, my, my wife works on the first floor of our home and, you know, it's, it's a great setup because my homeschool on the second floor and then when it's time for them to like, you know, we need them to kind of go away and do their own thing. You know, because we need less noise. We get to send'em to the third floor where they sleep. So it's like, the way our setup is, it's, it's super conducive. I have a whole man cave setup, you know, where I have like, some of my favorite things, you know, from my books to little collectibles and things like that. But you wanna engineer that environment, right? So that is pulling you into productivity. So how can you do that today? What's, what's one or two things that you can do today? In your environment to really give it an upgrade to help pull you into productivity. Maybe you're writing a book, right? If you're writing a book, maybe having your laptop set up already. Having your workstation everything already set up so you don't have to think about what you have to prepare. Okay. All of that is, it goes a long way because remember the, as the cliche saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. So just planning out how you go about your environment is, is major. Now I'm gonna share with you guys a few life hack. By the way, if you're getting value so far, drop a V four value in the comment threads, like, comment, share, tag, someone who can get value. It's greatly appreciated. And if you're tuning into the YouTube channel, hit the subscribe button. Definitely appreciate it. Alright, moving forward. Environment reset. In 30 minutes, an environment reset in 30 minutes. I love the idea of setting up a Pomodoro. Pomodoro is a 25 minute block of time. It was a productivity hack developed in the eighties, I believe. And the Pomodoro is designed for you to just go all out. Massive action on one specific task for 25 minutes. It's a countdown, okay? And you can do a Pomodoro with is cleaning up your space. You can do it for removing distractions. You can do it for setting up your next task visually. So how are you setting yourself up? The second life hack is curate your feed like your life depends on it. Think about that for a second. How many of you who are tuning in and we got people tuning in from all over the world, how many of you have ever curated your very feed? So, you know, like on Instagram for example, you can, you can actually click to see content like that even more or less. So I remember one of the things as a, you know, years and years ago, I, I noticed that I was getting a lot of like. Thirst traps on my algorithm, right? I was a young guy out of college and you know, the algorithm, I, it was just flooding my, my newsfeed. And then what I did was I was very intentional about eliminating, right? Like how much of that content that was popping up on my newsfeed. And then today, the good thing is it doesn't pop up on my newsfeed anymore. What's typically popping up is things centered around personal development, things that are inspirational. Right, because the stuff that I really saw valuable, I just click to see it even more, right? So you can, you can actually just customize what, what shows up in your newsfeed. Even certain ads, there's sometimes I get ads that I really don't wanna look at, and I'll just click, I don't wanna see this ad anymore. So you've got, you've got a lot more control than you realize, but you have to be intentional about it. So curate your feet. Again, like your life depends on it. You can also unfollow anything or anyone that doesn't elevate you. I've had tons of people that I've, that I've unfollowed over the years. And, uh, the reason I do that is because of the type of content that they're posting. So if you're posting, if every post you put is either a thirst trap or, uh, and some of you old folks are probably like, what in the world is a thirst trap? Um, you know, you're just posting explicit photos and videos for attention, or you're posting a bunch of crazy negative news or conspiracy theories like. I'm good on that. You're probably gonna get unfollowed, right? And that's fine. Like if you don't like my content, you have every right to unfollow me as well. Okay. So, um, another thing is you can follow people who are also aligned with your future. So that's something that I'm big on as well. Like I'll find the most inspirational people on the planet and I follow them. I, I'm not one of those people that I'm gonna have, like, you know, zero fo people that I'm following. No, I don't mind. I'll follow thousands and thousands of people if those people are posting good content, valuable content, so being intentional about who you follow. You could even set up notifications. There are some people that I follow on the internet that their content is so valuable that I actually intentionally select for it to pop up on, on my newsfeed. So take some time today. To customize your newsfeed, think about how valuable that can be, where it's almost like pulling the weeds out of this garden and your, the garden is symbolic for your mind, the attention, right? Because your, your mind, if you, if you treat it like this beautiful garden, this beautiful oasis that you maintain, think about how much more valuable your life would reflect on the outside. Remember, your outer world is a direct reflection of your inner world. So if you can be the, the peace in, in the midst of a storm, if you can be the calm right, your environment will naturally reflect that at some point in time, that storm will subside, right? And your outer environment will reflect that. A lot of people, um, think about how many people you know that always have something, some kind of drama going on in their life. There's always something. One week is this, the next week is that. But think about that person's inner world and the inner turmoil that they're dealing with on a day-to-day basis. Remember this, you're not necessarily attracting your thoughts. You're attracting your emotions. Emotions are energy and motion. And if you're constantly at war with yourself, your outer world is going to directly reflect that. So that's a big, big part of it. Now, the next life hack is upgrade one room, upgrade your mind. It can be one room at a time. Maybe that one room is even your bathroom. You, you, you, your bathroom has been long overdue to get clean and you, you, you are always thinking about it every time you go in like, man, I gotta clean this bathroom, gotta clean this bathroom. But what if you just took some time to just focus on that one area, or maybe just your room, or maybe even just your kitchen. These are spaces that occupy a lot of your time, so why not be intentional about it? Okay? And you can turn one space even into a high performance zone. That could be if you, if you're fortunate enough to have your own office in your own, or even just your own workspace. But how can you curate and engineer that environment for that one small workspace so that it's optimal? For you to take massive action and be as productive as you could possibly be. Now, here are a few fun facts. The very first one is your brain has something called the reticular activating System. You guys hear me talk about it all the time. It's the RAS and it essentially filters what you notice based on your environment. So think about that for a second. One of the reasons why I was intentional about even where I lived is because I was naturally going to be around certain people who talk about certain things, right? And your environment at any moment in time is influencing what it is that you're thinking about. Okay? So that, that's the power of understanding how your mind works. If you truly understand the RAS, then you'll know. It's like, okay, my predominant thoughts. Is what I'm ultimately attracting because that's what I see in the world. Think about how many things you don't see. Your mind is probably only picking up just a small fraction of what actually can be perceived at any given moment. It's a small percentage your mind is picking up. The question is. What is that small percentage tuned into? What frequency are you vibrating at and what, what are you locked into every single day? What do you see every single day? That's why it's important to make sure that you manage your predominant thoughts and those thoughts are ultimately being influenced by that environment. Okay, hopefully this drop a one in the comments that this is making sense. I wanna make sure that you guys are still with me and that this is making sense for you guys. All right, awesome. Thank you. Next, fun fact, number two, humans naturally mirror the behaviors of people around them. It's called social conditioning. Show me your friends, and I'll show you your future as I'll oftentimes share, right? So think about the people that you're around and their behaviors. Right. If you're modeling the behaviors of the people around you and the people around you are always engaged in just bad habits, how much are those bad habits rubbing off on you? How much are there ways rubbing off on you? Right? So being intentional about that is everything. Last fun fact is your habits are heavily tied to cues in your environment. Change the queue, change the behavior. This is essential because think about this. If your environment, for example, let's say you have a gym setup in your home and you're always walking around that gym setup that one cue, seeing the gym equipment every single day, or maybe you have your dumbbells or your yoga mat or whatever, but seeing it every day, you're gonna be far more likely to work out than someone who doesn't have that in their home, right? Because that's the cue. Every single day. Another thing is if you are always around people, maybe you have a queue where your, your coworkers, they always go out for a drink after work, and that's the queue. It's like every day, 4:30 PM they're like, all right, here we go. It's five o'clock somewhere. It's about to, you know, be five o'clock and we're getting off of work, and they naturally just gravitate to a bar and, and, and this bad habit just ends up. Just, just falling into your life, right? Because of certain cues. So you have to be mindful of that. What are the cues that are driving your behavior in, in your life? Okay, now just to wrap up here, as we close out, if you want a new life, stop trying to force new actions in the same environment. I love the saying that scripture states you can't put. New wine into old skins. So excuse me. You have to be intentional about changing that environment if you truly want a different result. Okay, so today my call to action to everybody here on this Breakfast Club session is take some time to either change your room, change your circle. Change your inputs. Maybe it's a combination of all three, but find something that you can ultimately change throughout the course of this week, specifically today. Right? And here's what I'll close out with Your environment is either creating your future or keeping you stuck in the past. The choice is yours. Take some time to engineer your environment. Take some time to put yourself in a winner's world because that'll be one of the best things that you can do on your journey to support you with your success, to support you with your family life. Support you with every dimension of your life. And if this was valuable, drop a V in the comments. Again, DM me the word coach if you wanna take advantage of just a complimentary coaching session with me one-on-one. And I look forward to connecting with you guys throughout the week. Breakfast is officially served. God bless you all, and I'll be seeing you next Tuesday. Take care everyone.