The Mission Critical Importance of Your Environment If You Want To Be Successful - Doc Ep 101

Yo. So back with another iPad assisted video. And I'm in a hotel room, if you can tell, temporarily living like a homeless person. It's rather strange between locations. Was in Bali, then was in Poland, then was in Ireland, now I'm back in London. Very stark contrast. And I want to speak about something I've been thinking about actually a large, large amount in the past month, especially since I was away, then came back, but also reflecting on the. Because of the past few months that I tweeted about a little bit, made a few videos, kind of touching on. And then also, I guess I tweeted because I tweeted a lot of shit that comes to mind. Something I tweeted about today, which is environment and the absolute critical importance of it. And something I probably, I've always kind of known that. Well, I've always known this and I've got this right a lot of the time. But then on reflection, when I've not felt my best, which I'll go into in a second, a bit of story time, it's when I've not focused on it enough and given it the weight that deserves. And by environment I mean the way I'm describing anyway, the way I'm thinking about it, not the fucking dictionary definition, is your location, like your physical location, whether that's London, Bali, Dubai, New York, Marbella, fucking Leeds, York, where I'm from, for example, your actual, I guess, premises where you physically live in that location. Because I can make a huge difference. And I guess for most people that's your home and your office, or it's the same thing, like it has been for me in a lot of my life. And then the people that you surround yourself with, either as a result of these things or kind of intentionally within these things. And that's your environment. And I want to give a story time, not story time, maybe a little bit of that. The context why I think I'm qualified to speak on this and kind of give advice on it in some ways is. Yeah, so going back, I mean, as I've shared on the pod many times, like broadly speaking, been a full time fan and I have like seven years, you could say seven and a half years. Fuck, even eight years maybe. I guess like properly for like seven and a bit years, which is mad. I've learned a lot during that time in business, in life. Probably Only now at 29, crazily feel like I'm starting to fucking get things. Not just in business, but in life. And like putting it all together and the pieces start to make Sense, maybe that's normal, maybe it's not, but I feel like a bit of a late bloomer in that in some ways. Or I'm going to suddenly realize that actually everyone's fucking making it up and feels the same in the sense that they're only just figuring it out now. But yeah, so this environment, my environment when I grew up was fucking normal, right? You know, middle class family, brother went to a normal school, state school, didn't have much money, but you know, we weren't fucking on the streets dying either. So I guess pretty fucking normal, like genuinely normal that don't come from money. And then I went to uni, which was again, pretty fucking normal. Didn't like it. Went, dropped out, went back a year later, did lucky year and a bit and then fully left. I'm going to focus on the time that I became a full time planner. I guess I spent a few years, I spent a few years traveling. At that point this video might become something I didn't intend to be, but you know, traveling the world. This is my fucking earth. Spent like two years pretty much living nomadically. And this was fucking amazing for me because it opened up my eyes to different ways of doing things. I went to Bali for the first time, went to Australia for the first time, America, Singapore, fucking everywhere. Basically I went for the first time in a sort of two year period which was like 2017 to 2019, give or take. And I'm using rough numbers and rough dates, but you get the idea. And this was like my crazy nomadic time and it opened up my eyes to so many things and I'll come back to that in a second. And that was a great environment for me, even though it's many different ones. But you know, I was going to cool places. Most importantly at this time, I've surrounded myself with other founders, which I didn't know at the time. And it really set the foundation and base of a lot of my network now. And the way I've gone about meeting people, through people and compounding on that, etc. And then I moved to my first sort of, you could say fucking hustle house in many ways, in shit picture of ours. Ignore these pictures, it's purely illustrative. Illustrate the concept. 2019 to, I guess the end of 2019, you know, six months I lived in a fucking mews house in Kensington in London, where with a guy called Fred and a guy called Seb. Fred's the founder of Sanucci, one of my best mates, someone that I go back with a long time and this was a sick environment as well. In some ways. In other ways it wasn't as good. But living with. Actually living in one place and being able to lock down and live with other people doing similar shit just really enabled me to lock in and compound and have fun at the same time. Have my green Audi R8 fucking parked in the garage. I used to wake up this lady every single morning when I turned it on on cold start. And I just, yeah, I should have parked it on the street, but I had some strange feeling it would get stolen, even though it wouldn't have done back then in my dinner. But yeah, anyway, this is a cool setup. Then end of 2019, sort of start of 2020, I moved into this. I don't know why I'm doing circles, different colors, but like this like mega fucking like two and a half thousand square foot, ten grand a month. Penthouse with a sick view of London, which is in Embassy Gardens. A lot of people know about that. Wasn't on my YouTube, it was pre YouTube days. But this is probably the sickest place I ever lived and probably the best environment I can recall, at least for the time in my life. And this was the end of 2019 to about 2021. Used to have sick parties. It was me, Fred and a guy called Connor. It's about a year and a half in total. End of 2019 to mid-2021. Like, amazing vibes, sick physical location, great people around me. Not necessarily the best weather or the best location in many ways. But at the time I think London was higher up on people's preferences. And that was just a sick environment to just make me feel like things were possible and also fucking enjoy the process. That period I probably look back at maybe nostalgically now, but was like, for me, the ultimate combination of like, had some money, we're making money, we're all making money, but we're working hard, we're training hard, we're, you know, having sick parties, hanging out with beautiful girls, etc. Pretty much every weekend it was something new and I had a Ferrari downstairs. All this shit. It was just like peak youth, like kind of new money. I guess in some ways a lot of it was kind of cringe and I wouldn't do it now, but it was a sick environment and it really propelled me forward and my network forward as well in that time. And then I guess, you know, I'm not gonna go back too far. But then 2021-20. 2023, it's kind of a step down in many Ways like the business flopped. I started rebuilding my life, I guess in many ways started the YouTube, started space goods and this is where I lived in like still a sick bed flat. Sick bed flat. A sick flat. But it's like a two bed non penthouse. Yeah, I think it's like five grand a month rent or whatever. So it's still a nice place, don't get me wrong. But it was like, it felt like a step down mentally and I felt like I'd gone from being this fucking winner that quite literally had everything I'd ever dreamed of in some ways, you know, to like the lower levels of masculine desire at the time. Really enjoy that environment. And I guess, yeah, this was kind of the humbling I needed in some ways. And don't get me wrong, I wasn't fucking living on the streets. But it was a step down. And the fact it was a step down did hurt my mindset a bit and probably made me feel less, less like a fucking winner because I guess ultimately I wasn't. But I think losing that mindset is dangerous. And then I'm just gonna hurry this up a bit. 2023, sort of 2024. And this critically was living with another founder friend, right? Well actually two guy called Jack who runs Kanzuri. Good mate and a guy called Adam who runs Crown and Porth. Kind of two different places. And then I moved on to another one and I lived in again a similar flat, better view this time. So I found the views really big for me still in London, but a lot of mates have started to leave and I lived with I guess, two different people. One that was kind of a founder. He wouldn't mind me saying that he is a founder, but he wasn't, wasn't doing as, you know, wasn't scaling as hard as the other guys. And maybe it was a bit one sided in terms of the stuff we talk about. And it's kind of me giving advice and him asking for advice rather than sharing ideas because we're on the same wavelength in terms of where our businesses were. And then a guy, he moved out and a guy moved in that wasn't even a founder. And it just felt like a bit of a different. Nothing wrong with that by the way, but like it changed the dynamic of the conversations because we didn't just talk about business all the time, which is what I'm kind of into. And yeah, and then I lived in Spain for like six weeks last year, which I thought was chasing a better environment but actually wasn't ideal for me. Didn't speak Spanish, wrong time of year, didn't know that many people. And then to come back to probably actually the worst environment of my almost entire life in terms of the stuff I've controlled myself, was the six months I spent in this fucking Airbnb. It wasn't like full, full time, so I was away here and there, but, like, I was based here in a shitty part of London that I'm not even gonna say, if you know me, I've tweeted about it, whatever. And this just ruined my mindset because it wasn't even cheap. Like, it was an Airbnb, but it felt like shit compared to where I previously lived. It wasn't a penthouse, didn't have a sick view, didn't have the sauna, the underground parking, the gym. I was used to in every other place I'd ever lived in. And this sounds, like, frivolous and stupid, but I could afford to live in a nice place. And the irony was I ended up paying, like, twice as much to live here as I did in the other places. And it really fucked. And that's not the only point here. But I'll get to what I'm saying in a second. I'm just setting the scene. So I've lived in all these different places. You know, probably the sickest place was kind of here. This was cool. This was cool. This was super exciting because it was earlier on. The sickest one was definitely this blue one. And then these red ones were like, yeah, okay. But this green one just made me feel like, almost like I wasn't gonna make it or like I hadn't made it or like I wasn't in the process of making it. And I think that that was the best example to me of, oh, fuck. I just rushed into this. I didn't curate my environment enough, given how self aware I am about the things that get me going and don't. And, you know, it's the wrong combination of physical location. Wrong combination of physical location. Just wasn't near anything that I'd, you know, typically need to use. Not even near my office, not even near some of my mates that still live here. It was the wrong physical place. Like, didn't have the view, flat was too small, wasn't a high floor that I'm quite big on unless I'm living in a house or a villa. Didn't have the sauna that I want to use every day for, like, meditation purposes. And actually, critically, I felt at this point in my life, a lot of my mates that ultimately had Made all these places cool had left and I didn't feel like that they fucking had left. And I have left now. And leaving that place, I just got into a really bad headspace, honestly, particularly sort of February, March this year, which I won't go into too much. And it sounds kind of stupid, but I think the biggest thing driving that was the fact this environment was wrong. And it's something that so might not seem it, but it's so easily controlled by anyone, especially us founders and people that want to be founders and, you know, people that are entrepreneurially minded and don't have to go necessarily to one place for one job forever. So yeah, that's kind of like me setting the scene on my environmental history and then coming off the back of this where even though the business is growing and everything's actually going quite well, I just wasn't fucking enjoying it because my environment was wrong for me and I'm self aware about what I need and what I don't need. And then I did the cliche thing. I went back to fucking Bali for about a month. It was meant to be like two weeks and it got extended to like actually nearly five weeks as of recently. And I just felt like a different person because I guess I. So this is my fucking depiction of a son, by the way. I guess I associated it more with my earlier years of feeling fucking optimistic, super ambitious, super fast moving, like super free, which actually brings out the best work in me. And honestly, I did some of my best creative work in that like four or five week period than I'd done in the past like year. Even though people might assume, oh, you're in Bali, not working properly. But the environment for me works. Sun, great gyms, great food, everyone there is a founder, at least people I hang around with. I know lots of people that are founders and live there and have a pretty good network out there. And I guess there's the associative thing, like I said of my earlier years. I thought back to that and it felt like, ah, fuck, yeah, this is a blast from the past in a good way. But also like the physical environment, you can get sick Villa, you know, live like a baller for not much money relative to other places like London and stuff. And yeah, that just reminded me of like, fuck, I've been like doing myself dirty by not, not necessarily not living in Bali, but not optimizing my environment enough and not putting enough importance on the critical importance of that. And I think you get the idea now. I think environments have like, primarily like three. Three ways of impacting, like, your trajectory. And this is what I said in my tweet. Like, I think it's the most important thing to set the foundation of your ability to work towards being successful and being the right mindset and place to do so, which is the foundation of everything, really. The first thing is it can inspire you. And I guess, like, in my case, that was when I first, like, went to Bali and saw wow. Like, it wasn't necessarily about the villas and shit. It was more like the environment so different to anything I'd seen before. Like, it physically looked different. All the people thought kind of a similar way. It made me realize that you can do and be anything, anywhere. And I guess another example, when I moved in that penthouse, it was like, fuck, I feel like we're actually making progress there. Even though the rent, like, split between three people wasn't anything crazy, it was similar to what I paid in the previous place. But, like, the mental shift of, like, this is a fucking penthouse in central London sounds like flipping and, you know, arrogant, whatever, and flexi. And it kind of was, but it shifted, like, the paradigm of who I thought I was. And that sounds stupid, but that's how humans work. At least that's how I work. And it made me think bigger. And obviously that didn't all go perfectly, but definitely a valuable time, I think. Secondly, the environment you curate can actually help you meet others, which then you can end up living with and so on. So I met people in Bali that fucking helped me. Well, I guess opened my mind to possibilities I hadn't otherwise thought of, you know, hanging around with people that weren't necessarily founders from my background, et cetera, et cetera, in uni before I left. And then thirdly, they can help you lock in and remove distractions. I think all these things are relevant at different stages of life and not necessarily just tied to your age, but tied to your stage in the business where you're at. Lock in and remove distractions. And I guess an example of this is like, even the place I was living, like, a few months ago, it had fucking building noise outside. But you didn't realize. And I couldn't lock in actually in the home office setup. Whereas previously when I lived on the 15th floor with a nice view, like, literally just sound doesn't travel as much that far. My actual home office was a much better setup previously. I loved having a sick view. I set it up with neons and shit and just didn't bother in this place because I was there temporarily. And it just never felt like it was my space to do what I'm best at, which is, I guess, a range of things, but ultimately didn't let me lock in and do that in the same way. So, yeah, like, I'm rambling as always. I feel like this one more than anything, but I think it's so worth a figuring out. What matters to you? Where do you actually feel best in the context of what you're trying to achieve? So for founders and for me at least, which I can only speak for myself, is do I feel inspired, happy and creative? Because without those things, I don't feel like I can do anything. Do I feel high energy is probably the best summary way to put it. So figure out what makes you tick that might not be relevant to you. For you, it might be. I want somewhere where there's no distractions of partying, for example. So maybe I should go live in the countryside of the fucking hills. You might have an example. I don't know. What's important to you is being around people in the finance industry. So you're actually living in like central London, in the City, for example, is great for you. Yeah, just be self aware. And I figured that out for myself over the past few years. Sun is a huge one for me. It genuinely raises my energy across the board, which therefore makes me more positive. And I think I'm a better founder and a better friend and a better fucking everything when I'm more positive. Because I do have a dark side, which I don't like of myself, especially in a business context. And it helps me be more creative. Figure out what matters to you, then figure out, like, I guess try a few fucking places and, you know, styles of places within that. So whether it's a, you know, townhouse in London, a flat in London, a villa in Bali, whatever the fuck it is, then you have to try living a few places, especially when you're younger and early in your career, which for most people is like your 20s, your early to mid-20s, probably. That's the way I did it. And just traveling as well. Not necessarily living in a place, but like I went to Dubai, I went to Bali, Barcelona, America, whatever, but went to loads of fucking places and of feel beyond just what's on the. On Instagram, on the Internet, beyond just what other people say. I think there's a lot of smoke and mirrors in that respect. Like, I used to think I wanted to live in la, for example. Then I went there a few times and thought, wow, this is a real shithole. In most of it, not all of it and figured that probably wasn't for me. So yeah, figure out what matters to you. Try a few places and I think on reflection for me a real important thing is like invest in your environment. I guess what I mean by that is don't think about the cost, don't only think about the cost of place and obviously this is all within reason relative to your financial position, where your business is at, etc, etc. I'm not saying go and spend like your entire net worth on one month's rent like obviously I'm not saying that but I think just thinking about the cost of a place which a lot of people, myself included especially when I was earlier in my career and the business was smaller, etc I was, hadn't even started or made any money in my early 20s I think you focus entirely on the cost and I remember saying to my mate, oh, we should move into this penthouse. Yeah, we're going to double our rent each or something. I forget what it was and at the time that felt like a big deal but I was like no, we need to live here so we can level up. And it sounded stupid but a few months later he said wow, this is the best thing we ever did at the time and obviously it's just a flat in that case but I think spending more money to curate and perfect an environment that you know is going to have an ROI for you personally in the context of what you're working on is absolutely well worth it probably more than anything else in life beyond maybe your health or whatever. And actually I think you can even help health. And I mean when I say like invest in it, I mean I guess firstly like if you're renting a place, buying a place wherever, it's probably renting like that's the first thing but I also mean like how you actually build that environment. So like I think stupid things which, well it might sound stupid but even like a great screen, right? Like I used to use a shitty PC monitor like most people I guess no, it's no different then I invested in, I say invested like wasn't that crazy expensive but an Apple Studio display which is like I think 1600 pounds or something, 1800 pounds with a standard and that just made my work more enjoyable especially when I started to design space goods and stuff I think was when I got it because I was spending a lot of time looking at colors and stuff and also just made me feel like a higher quality operator and I know that's stupid but I think little things like that do matter. I also think a great fucking chair and I was too late on this one. I used to get real bad back pains. I still do sometimes, but not from the chair, but just in general. I used to have a shitty gaming chair when I was younger. Then I got like a nice, nicer Amazon one and then like full sent it recently and got like a 1500 pound Herman Miller one. And people say, oh, it's ridiculous, but how long do you spend on a chair, especially as a founder or anyone in a job, particularly founders, probably 8, 10 hours a day, maybe 12 hours a day. So being comfy helps you get more out of yourself, right? And there's obviously other examples of this like fucking kitten out the flat with neon lights which like had inspirational messages like, I don't need to go into too much detail, but you know, invest in these things, knowing what you know about yourself and I think you get a great ROI of it. And yeah, if I had to go back to like, I think they're all as important as each other, I guess. When you start, you ultimately have to pick this one first, right? The location, then you pick this and then probably as a result you end up with certain people around you or you can kind of do a blend like, you know, you pick people to live with, you pick a place to live and then you pick the physical place within that. I think once you've gone through bit of trial and error on this stuff is when you really get to the point where, as I did over this period, you know what matters to you and what doesn't and what gets the best out of you in the context of what you're trying to achieve. You've probably tried a few places and then you can curate and invest in your environment that helps you go forward. And that's what I'm consciously thinking about more in the next stage of the business. And I guess applying this kind of high leverage, quality decision making mentality to everything and rather than trying to do everything and like just work hard all the time, because that's kind of the mentality at the start. And I guess that applies to the way I thought about curating my environment or not at the start. And that mindset, you know, applies in every area, I think. So I don't know. Fuck, it's late at night, I've been working like 13 hours. Today I went to the gym, I was reflecting on this and I was like, you know what? I need to make a fucking video and get the iPad out. Closing message. I think you have the agency to fucking shape your physical environment. Which I think on reflection is arguably one of the most important, if not the single most important, controllable factor in most people's lives. And they think they can't change it. They think they don't deserve to change it or whatever. But if you realize the impact of being in the right place at the right time, the right people in the right environment in general, especially for founders who I think are watching this, then you would not fucking think twice about optimizing that for yourself. So yeah, that's a reflection for me. Hopefully. It's hopefully resonates. Sorry for the waffle. This is meant to be a 10 minute video, but in my typical style it's like nearly midnight right now. Yeah, just reflecting, rambling on that bombshell actually. Final point, I will be revealing my new environment which I've hopefully curated for the best for the next stage and certainly the next few months at least, or the next year in a video. Maybe one in a few weeks or a month or so when it's fully ready to go and you'll see what I mean. Hopefully. And I'll talk a bit more then. But yeah, good to chat. Subscribe to the pod, check out all my links below if there's a few new things in there. And yeah, I appreciate you watching. Sam.