In this motivational video, Evan Carmichael recounts his childhood experience with nervous tics, frequent fights, and anxiety that led his parents to take him to a child psychologist. The psychologist’s recommendation to change schools prompted a transfer to Crescent School in grade 5, where his tics largely subsided and his confidence grew. Reflecting on this shift, Evan argues that a person’s environment—people, media, workplace—can either build them up or squash them, profoundly influencing personal development and entrepreneurial success. He urges viewers to evaluate and, if needed, change their surroundings to unlock greater achievement, ending with a typical call‑to‑action for subscriptions and his newsletter.
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So I was on a Google Hangout this morning with Janie, who's my media coach, and she tells me, "Evan, how come you don't share any more stories from your childhood?
I want to see those stories and have a teachable lesson on top of them." So Janie, this video today is for you.
When I was growing up in grade 2, grade 3, grade 4, I used to have a lot of nervous tics. Some of them were really embarrassing. I used to blink a lot, constantly. I used to do this with my neck and then have to adjust with my shoulder. When I was walking, I used to always have to step on the lines or completely avoid the lines on the sidewalk. One of the most embarrassing one was I used to always try to kick my own butt, where I would always have the— I'd have to push my leg up and I wouldn't be happy until the heel hit my butt. And I have to do that a couple times before I can move on with the rest of my day. I was also getting into a lot of fights at my school. So seeing this, my parents were really worried and they took me to go see a child psychologist. I didn't know she was a psychologist. My parents just said I was gonna go play games with somebody, and we had some games together, and she showed me these inkblots and told me, "What do you see in these pictures?" And she asked me a bunch of questions. The immediate recommendation was that I switch schools right away. And so in grade 5, I transferred to a new school called Crescent and ended up staying there from grade 5 all the way to graduating high school. And the tics got better. For the most part, they went away completely. To this day, I still have a few minor ones where if I'm thinking or if I'm stressed or if I'm tired, I'm tired, you could see my ears move. But other than that, they're gone. What it really made me think about was the importance of your environment. See, your environment is either something that builds you up, that, that lifts your spirits, that helps you go chase your dreams, or something that squashes you down, that makes you shrink, that makes you accept a lesser life. So think about the people that you surround yourself with. Think about the TV shows you're watching and the media that you're consuming and the place that you go to work. Does your environment build you up or squash you down? Changing my environment had a dramatic impact on the quality of my life and the contribution to my success as an entrepreneur, and changing yours can have the same impact for you. Belief. If you like this video, you want to see more, subscribe to the channel. Thank you guys for watching. I'll see you soon.
Psst, Jani, I hope you enjoyed the story. Let me know.
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