Ep 151 | How's Your Environment?

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Let's get into it. Today I want to talk about environment, your environment. We talk about environment oftentimes. You'll say like, hey, if you want to be successful, if you if you want to grow, if you want to develop, if you want to reach that, that objective at a faster pace, you need to change your environment. And typically when we talk about environment, we almost always default to the people you hang around. And, and that absolutely is a component of environment, but it extends far beyond that. And that's, that's what I want to talk about here a little bit today. It starts with awareness. And it starts with acceptance of a, of a simple truth. And that's that your environment always wins. So what is environment? Let's define it. You know, I went on Google and looked up on Merriam-Webster, you know, the definition of environment. And the first definition listed is the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded. Okay. That's very clean, very clear. The circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded. So your environment would therefore include your friends, your colleagues, your location, your habits and lifestyle. These things impact you far more, for better or for worse, than you realize. You cannot make a significant lasting change without altering some elements of your environment. I think many of our listeners can attest to this. So I think there's a handful of questions. There's a few key questions you can ask yourself to better assess if your environment is helping you, helping you grow, helping you get to where you want to go, or it's in fact holding you back. First thing I would be asking, and I don't want to go too deep on this one because this is where everybody goes and we've even talked about it before on this podcast. First thing you need to be asking is who's in my top 5? Now this top 5, when we say who is in my top 5, this is something I believe came from Jim Rohn, who Jim was a, you know, for many of our listeners, you may not have heard of Jim Rohn, R-O-H-N. You should Google him. You should look him up. He was an early mentor to Tony Robbins and a number of others. And he's the one that kind of coined the term, you're the average of the 5 people you spend time with. Rohn believed in the law of averages. And the law of averages is a theory that, that the results of any given situation will be the average of all possible outcomes, the average of all outcomes. And it suggests that the 5 people you're around the most are the ones that shape you. So said in a different way, when you're trying to grow into the person you hope to be, it's helpful to surround yourself with people who possess those qualities that you aspire to achieve. So having, you know, encouraging people that challenge you, that push you, that you aspire to be like, having those people in your top 5 can dramatically improve your chances for success. Now, conversely, if your environment has a bunch of negative people, those negative people You know, if you're around them, they're going to make it harder for you, harder for you to get to the change you desire. So who was in my top 5? That's where we always start for environment, but let's get into some other areas I think that are oftentimes neglected. Next question I'd be asking, where do I hang out and what do I do while there? So it's just not, it's not only about who you're hanging out with, but also what. Those things that you surround yourself with can either propel you forward or hold you back. So the same principle applies here. Where are the top 5 places where you're spending your time right now? For many of us, that's in the office. If you're not in the office, maybe you're at the gym, or maybe you're out working out. Maybe you're at a restaurant, or maybe you're in your car. Maybe you're going to networking events or sporting events. Or maybe you're out in the park, or maybe you're just sitting around on the internet. What are the top 5 places where you spend your time? Now, no place is inherently good or bad, but you have to pay attention to how you feel when you're, when you're in these spots. How are you feeling when you're out working out versus how you're feeling when you're sitting in a room surfing the internet? How do you feel when you leave those places? Are you motivated? Are you drained? If it's true, if you're drained, you probably need to get rid of these places. And if you've got energy, you probably want to get more of them. So you got to make changes. Are you intentionally placing yourself in situations and in locations that create growth or Have you fallen into some sort of comfort zone because of the familiar, you know, being in familiar spots that are not necessarily inspiring? So where you hang out and what you do while you're hanging out, that, that is a component of your environment and that impacts your growth. Last question I might be asking myself around environment. What are my habits? What's my lifestyle? Maybe, uh, if that was question 3A, I'll give you question 3B. So if 3A is what are your habits and lifestyle, I'd ask the follow-up: are you setting yourself up for success? Now, what do I mean as it pertains to our habits and our lifestyle? I like to think around how do I cheat this system. If I want to improve my environment as it pertains to my habits and lifestyle, oftentimes I got to think, okay, well, what could stand in my way of creating great habits and lifestyle. My phone. Where is that phone? Is it always in your pocket? Is it always within reach? Okay. If I want to create a better environment, I got to get that thing out of, out of, out of reach. How about TV? How accessible is the TV? Is it in every room? If I want to watch less TV and read more books, you know, yes, I need to make that decision, but it wouldn't hurt to change the environment and remove the TV altogether. I think about— I know this might sound crazy to some of you, but do you have notepad, a notepad nearby when you get an idea? Do you have a way to jot down what's on your mind? Do you journal? Are these things easily accessible? I think about how I want to be reading the newspaper, the Wall Street Journal specifically. It's one reason I have it physically delivered to my house. To me, that's a changing of the environment. When this thing is Laying in my driveway and I know I paid for it prompts me to pick it up and read it. How about food? You want to be healthier. What kind of food do you have in the fridge and in the pantry? If you've got the wrong food in the food, in the pantry and in the fridge, odds are your environment is not aligned with where you potentially want to go. So I would ask, what are your habits and lifestyle? And are you setting yourself up for success? Think around it. What habits have you created for success? And what's the environment around these things, right? Are you, are you in an environment that's conducive to you growing or one that hinders your growth? Real growth happens when we understand whom and what best supports what we want. And then we align ourselves with those people. We align ourselves with those, with those places. That do in fact support us. We align ourselves with those habits and a lifestyle that in fact supports our growth. So the focusing question for you today, right? I want you looking around today and I want you to assess your environment. Who am I hanging out with? Where am I hanging? What am I doing? How do I feel when I'm there? How do I feel when I leave? What are my habits? What's my lifestyle? Am I setting myself up for success? Do I have the right tools? Do I have the right support around me? I would reflect on that. In those areas where you're succeeding, congratulations, that's great. In those areas where you got to change your environment up, I would encourage you, don't wait, don't contemplate, let's take action today. That's all we have for you today in the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day, brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.