Practice #29 - Change Your Environment, Change Your Life

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,040 So like I said in the intro of yesterday's episode, some of the, some of my favorite things 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:15,280 about self-improvement is the one-time changes. So yesterday I talked about the one-time change 3 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:21,280 of deleting your social media account. You just do that once and you get a lifetime of benefit 4 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:30,560 and reward from that one action that takes two minutes. So, and I also hinted that there are other 5 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:37,600 things like one-time changes that you can make, which there are a lot of one-time changes that 6 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:45,200 you can make and a lot in the environment category. So basically this environment is your workplace, 7 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:54,960 your room, your leisurely areas, and this can also be like people that you surround yourself with. 8 00:00:55,600 --> 00:01:06,800 So friends, family, peers, classmates, roommates, like all these people. And then also your phone, 9 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:14,160 like your environment on your phone and your computer. So is your phone set up in such a way 10 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:20,240 to where it has an optimal environment? So like, do you have video games on it or do you not? 11 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:25,520 Do you have social media or do you not? Do you have entertainment or no? Are your apps hidden 12 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:32,960 or no? Like, and this is like the, if you're interested in the phone category, then check out 13 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:39,840 an episode in a couple days. I'm going to be posting an episode in the future. I don't remember what 14 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:45,840 number it is, but I haven't recorded it yet, but it's going to be in a couple days. Stay tuned 15 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:53,200 for the following couple days for a episode on the phone category. But there's, like I said, 16 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:58,720 there's a few different categories of your environment. So let's talk about, to start, 17 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:04,400 let's just talk about your workspace. This is the one that I just most recently changed. 18 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:11,680 So if you're watching on the YouTube, then you can tell that the recording setup is completely 19 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:18,320 different than it was on my last couple of episodes. Yesterday's episode was the first, 20 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:27,360 actually, the Calisthenics episode was my first episode that I recorded in this setup. And the 21 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:34,640 way I record these episodes is that I basically batch record them. So I record like eight, seven, 22 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:40,640 basically seven to nine episodes at a time. So right now I think I have eight or nine episodes 23 00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:47,200 that I'm going to record and I'm on my third one. And if you're watching, like I said, on the YouTube, 24 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:52,800 you can see my environment is completely different. And this is because I understand the value of 25 00:02:52,800 --> 00:03:01,440 those one time changes in your environment because my old environment was just out in the open. 26 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:08,720 It was unprofessional looking. And so because of that, it was sending a message to my subconscious 27 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:16,560 that I am not a professional. And that's not good. It's fine for a temporary thing, but that is 28 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:24,960 actually going to damage you long term. So that's why it's best if you as quickly as possible change 29 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:29,680 your environment. And so that's what I did. I made it a lot more professional. I actually believe 30 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:38,320 that this looks like a professional setup. And obviously I still have a lot of work to do because 31 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:44,560 this may look actually this may look like an amateur setup from the recording. But when I'm 32 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:52,240 looking at the screen, like you can only see me, but I can see the whole setup that I have over 33 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:58,960 here. And this actually looks pretty professional because I have studio lights. And then I have my 34 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:06,880 computer and on lamps, like my desk, all this stuff. So this looks professional to me. And that's 35 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:12,960 all that really matters because it's sending me a message. It's sending my subconscious a message 36 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:18,400 that I'm a professional. And this is my like, I take this seriously, because your environment is a 37 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:26,560 reflection of your mind. So that basically means that your mind is your, okay, so your environment 38 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:33,440 is going to send your mind messages and your mess, your mind is going to take those and basically 39 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:41,360 make them become a part of yourself. So that's your workspace. That's what I did made my workspace 40 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,640 a lot more professional looking. But then there's another thing that you can do. 41 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:51,760 Minimalism for workspace and minimalism is extremely important because like I said, your 42 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:56,240 environment is a reflection of your mind. So you don't want a bunch of nonsense all over the place. 43 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:03,840 Like you only want essential items at your in your environment. Like if there's items that you never 44 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:10,560 use, they shouldn't be there. So that's what I did. I went through and cleared my desk. I had a bunch 45 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:18,080 of like sheets of papers that never looked at anymore. A bunch of like trash, like a bunch of 46 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:23,680 garbage all over the place on my desk. And I basically cleared it all out. And now the only 47 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:31,680 things that I have on my desk are things that use every single day. So that's another way to fix your 48 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:38,400 environment, professionalism and minimalism. And now let's look at another aspect of your 49 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:44,480 environment. Your your room, your room in your closet. Oh, maybe four or five months ago. 50 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:51,680 Maybe six months ago. I don't know. Over the summer, I decided to get rid of my bed. 51 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:58,720 And as a result, I went down this path of over the next couple of days, clearing out my entire room. 52 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:05,280 Now the only thing in my room is like a tatami mat, which is what I sleep on, which is this small 53 00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:11,360 little mat that's made of grass. It's like rush grass. So it's not like soft, but it's like 54 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:21,200 hard. It's kind of like the texture of hay, maybe I don't know. But the only things in my room are 55 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:28,880 essentials that I use every day, like my fan, my bed, and a journal, and then like a timer, a 56 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:37,040 stopwatch. And so this is another thing that I did to basically change my life. The title of this 57 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:43,680 episode is change your environment, change your life. And these one time changes really do impact 58 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:50,240 your life tremendously, because I remember my emotional or my, my mental clarity at that time 59 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:59,280 was not that great. And this, and now my mental clarity is superb. And that does come like, 60 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:07,760 it's not just the environment that, that did that. It's also my intentional practice of my 61 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:15,120 intentional focus. What's the word? It's me being intentional about how I place my attention or 62 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:25,680 where I place my attention. So basically, my mental clarity is so much stronger. I'm so much more 63 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:32,480 clear in the mind now. And I'm, I'm, I found that I'm holding myself way more accountable, 64 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:39,520 because if I come home, go to bed to a dirty room, or a room that just ha just looks like 65 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:46,480 mediocrity, it just looks like a bunch of garbage looks like the average person's room, well, then 66 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:52,080 I'm going to treat myself as such, I'm going to treat myself as an average person, and I'm going 67 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:59,840 to hold myself up to those standards. But when I have my room, how it is right now, it does not 68 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:09,760 look normal. It looks extremely, it looks extreme. Like if none of my friends other than like, okay, 69 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:16,960 so right now I have like school friends, which I don't really talk to anymore. And then I have 70 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:22,640 like friends that are on self improvement, which I only have two. So basically, I only have two 71 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:27,200 friends because I only have two friends that are on self improvement that I actually talked to. And 72 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:35,120 even then I only talked to them once a month. But then there's also people, okay, so that was a 73 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:44,240 side tangent. So if any of my school friends saw this saw my room, they would definitely be extremely 74 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:51,040 shocked, like take anyone from the street and they'd be shocked, any average person. So that new 75 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:59,440 sense, or that new, the new environment that my room is creating for me is basically allowing myself 76 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:06,720 to hold myself to a higher standard because my room is to an elite level. So that means I have 77 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:11,680 to hold myself to an elite level. So it just makes it easier because it's more a part of my identity. 78 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:16,480 Like your identity is also tied to your environment, I believe. So when you change your environment, 79 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:26,400 you can also start to change your identity. And then there's also your, the another part of the 80 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:31,520 environment that I didn't really talk about was where you spend most of your day. So originally, 81 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:36,800 I was spending most of my day at school. And that's a terrible environment for me. So that's why I got 82 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:41,120 rid of it. And there's a lot of reasons why school is a terrible environment for the mental reasons, 83 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:45,920 but also for the physical reasons. I'm not going to get into that because that's a whole conversation 84 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:52,560 on itself that I don't really care much to talk about anymore, because I don't really care much 85 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:58,080 about school to be honest. So I'm not going to spend much time talking about it anymore. And so 86 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:03,360 the school is another thing. If you're spending a lot of time somewhere that you don't want to be, 87 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:10,800 then you got to get out of there and quit or drop out or graduate early. Basically, 88 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:15,680 that's what I did. I graduated early because I didn't want to be there. So the decision was 89 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:21,600 simple. Get out of there as quick as possible. But then the other part of your environment that I 90 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:27,600 mentioned earlier was the people you surround yourself with. So this is another thing with school. 91 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:32,480 At school, you're surrounding yourself with a bunch of people that are not like-minded. So 92 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:38,000 they're going to be affecting you. The quote of, you're the average of the five people you spend 93 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:44,400 your most time with, that is true. And I'm realizing that people actually change you. 94 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:51,440 Like I had one flashback the other day to school and it was back when I was getting into reading, 95 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:57,680 first getting into reading. And I started reading a lot of books and I was getting a lot of knowledge. 96 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:05,440 And I became very book smart to where I was able to just shoot out a bunch of facts about random 97 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:12,400 stuff that didn't really matter. And I remember in the locker room when we were changing because 98 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:18,800 we were in the swim unit. So we were at school changing in the locker room. And I was just 99 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:24,560 talking about a bunch of facts. And my friend was like, actually no, this is not even the story I 100 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:29,840 wanted to tell. The story I wanted to tell was we were in the locker room and we were changing. 101 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:41,600 And the thing is that in the school locker room, the social kind of- what people my age do when 102 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:49,200 it's time to change like into a swimsuit is they do this weird thing with a towel and they like 103 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:55,200 strip themselves under the towel and then put their swimsuit on from under the towel. It's weird. 104 00:11:55,840 --> 00:12:02,640 It's basically you're hiding your your shlong, you're hiding your goods from everyone. But it's 105 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:08,160 like, I don't care to do that. So I just strip naked in front of everyone. I don't care. Because 106 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:15,040 that's what men do. They don't care. They just do whatever they want. So I'm stripping down and 107 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:22,240 I never shave my balls. This is getting really personal, but I'm gonna still- I did not plan on 108 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:27,120 talking about this stuff, but I'm gonna keep going because I don't shave my balls. So I've got a 109 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:37,040 force growing down there. And they were basically saying like one of the dudes was like, James, 110 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:43,280 you gotta- I mean, I'm not looking or anything, but you should probably shave down there. Like trim 111 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:47,760 it up a little bit because you got a bush growing. And I'm like, dude, it doesn't matter because I'm 112 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:54,480 not getting any play anyways. And I never really say stuff like that. That was just like- it just 113 00:12:54,480 --> 00:13:00,480 was a spur of the moment thing. Like- and then people were like shocked. One of my other friends was 114 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:06,560 like, dang, I never thought that I've- I would hear you say something like that. Like you're 115 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:16,800 changing. And I didn't think much of it at the time, but literally like a year later, the other day, 116 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:23,360 like that happened- that story happened a year ago. And the other day, I'm thinking back and I'm like, 117 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:28,880 man, they were changing me because that's stuff that they were saying. That's the kind of things 118 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:36,800 that they said, not me. They were changing me. And so in hindsight, I'm really glad I made the decision 119 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:45,840 to just get out of school because people change you for the better or the worse. And this is your 120 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:52,720 friends, your classmates, your peers, your coworkers, your bosses, your teachers, your- even your parents 121 00:13:52,720 --> 00:14:00,240 and your siblings. Like all these people change you and they share a piece of themselves to you 122 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:05,680 and that becomes a part of you just because you're choosing to spend time with them. And there's a lot 123 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:10,720 of people that I spent time with in my life that I just don't want to be like. And so if you're in 124 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:18,080 that situation, then you should definitely start to take steps towards getting out of that because 125 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:23,840 that's one of those things that'll definitely help you. Like it's not helping being around these types 126 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:30,160 of people. And the thing is that the people that I was around, they weren't even bad. Like there's- 127 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:36,000 like I know people who are on self-improvement that used to be around like drug addicts and people 128 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:42,000 that smoked weed all day. Like those people, those are definitely bad habits. But the type of people 129 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:48,000 that I was spending my time around, they didn't- I mean yeah, they might have done drugs but never 130 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:54,000 around me. Like I was just around them during the school day and they weren't really doing anything. 131 00:14:54,000 --> 00:15:00,720 Like they weren't bad, it's just they weren't who I wanted to become. So you got to ask yourself, 132 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:08,720 who are you surrounding yourself with and do you want to become them? So if you- if the answer is 133 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:20,560 no, then the decision should be easy. Stop spending time with them. So that's why I cut out all my 134 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:28,000 old friends and now I only have a select few people that I actually spend time with. And I 135 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:32,160 actually have a mastermind set up with them. And I don't even spend time with them that often. 136 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:38,080 We only spend time once a month. This is- that's the rate we've been doing lately, 137 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:45,920 but it might- might be longer. It depends on where we're at in a month. But with that- with 138 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:53,120 all that said, just make sure that you really take into consideration and be intentional about 139 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:58,480 the environment that you're surrounding yourself with, the environment that you are choosing to be 140 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:08,480 a part of, because it will become a part of you.