Upgrade Your Environment

Welcome back to this multi-part series, based on The Magic of Thinking Big by Dr. David Schwartz. Here’s what we’ve covered so far: 1. Self-Belief, 2. Eliminate Excusitis, 3. Think Big, 4. You’re Important. And here’s what we’re covering today…

Series: The Magic of Thinking Big

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Upgrade Your Environment

“The mind reflects what its environment feeds it just as surely as the body reflects the food you feed it.”

– David Schwartz

One afternoon, nearly two decades ago, I made an important decision. I was chatting with my best friend at the time, whom we’ll call Henry (for privacy’s sake). We were talking about our goals and dreams…

I shared with Henry that one of my biggest goals was to build a business that allows me to help people improve their lives.

At the time, I was just beginning to learn about personal development, goal-setting, self-motivation, and all the beautiful life skills we were never taught in grade school. And I couldn’t get enough of it… Every self-help book I read strengthened my appetite for the next. Every motivational seminar I went to generated a desire to attend another.

I was slowly beginning to realize that I wanted to be one of the guys who wrote those books, created those programs, and led those seminars.

Back to my buddy Henry.

I told him about all of the above. I spoke about how I wanted to share the ideas I was learning with people around the world. But not just for fun. I loved learning about and sharing self-improvement material so much that I wanted to make a career out of it… I wanted to write about it, speak about it, and create products that could inspire people to crush it in life.

Then I mentioned, “And I want to be able to make money with my products—even while I sleep.”

Henry furrowed his eye brows, tilted his head back, and said, “Dude, that’s impossible.”

I decided that day to distance myself from Henry.

And it’s a good thing I did. Because every encounter we have with someone either affects us positively or infects us negatively. And some folks are more dangerous to be around than others.

On that day, nearly twenty years ago, Henry infected me with self-doubt, with pessimism, with uncertainty.

That evening, I went to bed wondering whether my lofty goals were really possible, or if it was just a pipe-dream like Henry said.

Thankfully, I managed to clear up the “infection” before it spread out of control. It took me a couple of days to shake off the self-doubt. But after that, my first step was to create distance between myself and anyone who influenced me negatively, starting with my own best friend.

I reflect on that conversation with my old buddy Henry often, even to this day. In large part because I can’t imagine where I’d be if I let his words demotivate me and deflate my dreams… I wouldn’t be writing this right now, that’s for sure.

Why am I sharing this story with you? Because negativity is contagious, and I don’t want you getting infected.

Prolonged contact with negative people—people suffering from excusitis or people who constantly talk about why success is impossible—can cause us to develop the same unhelpful thoughts and habits.

Often, this starts when we’re very young. We’re told that our dreams of becoming the President or going to outer space are impractical and that we’re better off aiming lower. With enough repetition, this idea gets embedded and accepted as true, and before they know it, children find themselves living out their lives guided by disempowerment and negativity. As they grow, they slowly accept that they’ll never become President, an astronaut, or achieve greatness… And then they settle.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Some people refuse to let these words stop them from dreaming. As they grow up, they turn their dreams into plans, and their plans into actions – until they make it real.

But even the most optimistic people can become infected with negativity. No one is fully immune.

That’s why extraordinary success demands that you upgrade your environment.

Stay away from the haters and “negators” (as author David Schwartz calls them in The Magic of Thinking Big). Avoid engaging with negators as much as possible. If you absolutely must listen to them, use their words as examples of how not to think.

People who enjoy exceptional success are most definitely not negators—that title’s reserved for a special class of people: The unsuccessful person who’s bitter about the failures they’ve experienced and envious of those who strive for success.

So promote yourself to a first-class environment, in all aspects of your life.

Here are a few ideas to keep in mind as you do it…

Actionable insights

Surround yourself with colleagues, friends, and family who support you and who strive for their own success. Feed off their positivity and encourage them as well.

If you can’t inspire them to be better, they’ll inspire you to be worse. If you care for someone, but they’re acting like a “negator” – you’ve got to pull them up before they pull you down. Help them if you can. Otherwise, create distance.

Be environment-conscious. Almost every day, I hear about how important it is to be environmentally conscious and care for our planet. And I’m totally with it, I couldn’t agree more. But what about zooming in a bit, and caring for your immediate environment—like the people you surround yourself with, the content you consume, and the things you allow past the gates of your mind? Guard those mental gates.

Upgrade your physical environment. Look around your office, your workspace, your room, or your home. What’s on the walls? What’s the general vibe? Do you have reminders of success, love, or positivity on your walls and in the spaces you spend the most time in? These are easy opportunities to upgrade your environment.

Don’t let negators hold you back. Your haters love to see you stumble. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

And don’t be a negator yourself. Avoid back-biting and speaking badly about others. Sure, talk about people, but keep it on the positive side. When you speak badly about others, it comes back around and bites you. When you speak well of others, it comes back around and helps you.

Diversify your social circle, and learn from other people. Embrace different opinions, especially from those who have achieved what you want to achieve.

Constantly nurture your mind. Fill your mind with the kind of wisdom and knowledge that’s conducive to your success. You’ve just done that by reading this.