Stimulate change by changing your environment January 21, 2007
Posted by Niels in : How to, Personal, Work , trackbackOne of the most powerful ways to change your mindset is to change your environment. Obviously, part of this is because you’re forced to interact with your environment on a daily basis. But it’s more than that. Your environment is anything that other people see, anything that defines you in other people’s eyes. When you change your environment, you change how other people see you. Your environment defines your identity.
If I decide that making a lot of money is an important goal to me, I can take a step toward that goal by altering my environment. I could cover an enormous wooden dollar sign in gold leaf and hang it above my bed. And every new person who came into my room would see it.
The interesting thing is that they probably wouldn’t ask me about it. They’d know what it meant. But it would alter their perception of me, and my perception of myself would change as well. And when that opportunity does come by that I might not have had the guts to grab before, I’d have to seize it! I mean, c’mon! I’ve got a big fat gold dollar sign above my bed!
I’m in the process of making radical changes in my life, and I’ll incite (grrr, that’s not quite the right word) those changes through changes in my environment. So I spent a little while listing some ideas. Try it yourself. What changes do you want to make in your own life, and what changes can you make in your environment to encourange them? Don’t limit yourself to realistic ideas…
- Hang a curtain up to hide my junk
- Hang inspirational quotes on my walls
- Get rid of unnecessary junk to make travel easier
- Tell people about my changes to commit myself to them
- Mount photos of my desires on bathroom mirror
- Wash Sean’s car to inspire me to make it run again
- Hang up a photo of two girls and one guy
- Hang up a map of the world and mark where I’ve been and where I want to go
- Change the background on my computer
- Put my goals on Myspace
- Put my goals on Facebook
- Hang up photo of Amsterdam
- Hang up a photo of South Africa
- Rearrange my bookshelves
- Get a videocamera to encourage me to create content
- Mount inspirational photos over the toilet
- Tape a photo of hot woman on mirror next to me
- Hang motivational images on ceiling next to bed
- Hang motivational images on wall next to bed
- Keep track of my progress on my blog
- Put a thermometer chart on wall with my net income: goal $1,000,000
- Mark a “road to success” on floor with landmarks
- Put a sign in my front yard with my goals
- Tape a million dollar bill on my bike
- Affix different symbols on my doorway for entering (peace) and leaving (happiness)
- Build an altar in my room dedicated to my goals
- Clean the bathroom
- Put a hot tub in my room
- Move into a place with supportive roommates
- Buy a house so I HAVE to work myself out of debt (or a model house to remind myself)
- Get a live-in masseuse
- Buy marketing books
- Leave books in the middle of my floor until I read them (but don’t fall into trap of knowledge)
- Make a leisure suit out of money
- Get a graph of Steve Pavlina’s blog traffic
Comments»
Can I be your live in masseuse?
Yes.
Well, that was surprisingly easy. Anyone want to donate a hot tub?
I’ll be one of your supportive roommates =)!
Think rich, be rich. you’ve got a great motto there neils.
well, if that’s the case, i propose you get a money bin room, like scrooge mcduck-swim it, smell it. be booji.
oh, COMPLETELY forgot to mention, the hot girls in binki’s to swim along side you.
I’ll be your second live in masseuse, two is better than one ;D
What is a “goals altar”?
-Sonic
You have an interesting idea there, but you missed one thing. Your mindset isn’t just affected by the actual environment but by the people who surround you. People can make all the difference in who you are. C’mon after you got your makeover, you would have felt differently if you didn’t get any compliments or nice remarks.
I just took a journey from MD to CA and found that MD was the best place for me because that’s where all my friends and family were. I’m going to be changing environments soon and it is going to change me I know. How it’s going to change me depends on the people there I guess.
I just hope amidst all these changes you surround yourself with the right people to direct you the way you want to go. And I hope these people are supportive and encouraging. Just be real, be yourself :-)
And I’m sorry, if you had a gold, wooden dollar sign above your bed I would ask you about it and I would laugh because it would make me think of something from an Austin Powers movie :-P
And why two girls, is one not enough?
And if you ever go to South Africa you should take me with you (even though you don’t know me/I’m from MD, 22, and I’m taken sorry but I like making new friends :-D). It woud be a nice adventure, plus I’ve always wanted to go.
And if you want to go ahead and decorate your walls, this site may be nice and a little funky:
http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/
I hope all goes well for you!
you go dude! we have one life to live. make the most of it. hope you win on that show too!
Niels, you seem to think that engineering and a social life are mutually exclusive. However, there are people out there capable of success in both arenas. It seems like quite a waste to leave grad school after three years to pursue a career as a “dating coach”; when the memories of beauty and the geek fade how many will care for your advice? It’s great that you were able to better yourself through the show and realize that engineering was not for you, but realize that with just a little effort you could have had both a technical career and a life. I guess once again you are proving the phrase: “those who can’t, teach…” Good luck.
You keep talking about how you’re going to change paths, do all these changes to yourself, and change your environment. Are you not content with yourself? I’m not trying to discourage you, it just seems your doing a lot. Take your time!
Response to #9. Maybe the interest in engineering is just totally gone. Maybe engineering seems like a dry desert that isn’t fulfilling anymore. People wake up from this coma and start questioning why they are even studying what they are studying. People look at that shady professor trying to publish papers and win all of the glory. People look at that graduate student smoking next to the building and drinking in the bar. People look at that 35 year old post doc and wonder, “what the fuck is this person still doing in school”? People are doing that internship in industry and think, “this sucks ass”. People look at all of that and ask themselves, “do I really want to become like that?, do I want to do this for the rest of my life”? People ask themselves, “am I getting this degree because I am interested in what I am studyding, or am I just getting this degree because it is here and I can get it”. Yeah, anyone can have a social life if they try to have one, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t change the fact that the interest and passion for something disappeared or was never there to begin with. I asked myself these questions too. Only if life could be clear.
Yeah, it’s true. When I was a 41 yo post doc, I could literally feel people’s questions. It’s not normal to be a 41 yo post doc. But being normal is overrated.
Some funny shit comes out of it though. I have a woman who comes over to file papers for me. When she first came over, she asked me bluntly: why are you living in this little apartment if you’re so smart? Well, what could I say? That I spent years in the Marine Corps, which don’t count? That I worked construction for many years as well, which don’t count? In the end, I told her things just are the way they are.
Then I paid her an hourly wage that was less than 1/6 of what I make. She’ll be over shortly today, wondering, I’m sure, why I still live in a small apartment, but still happy to cash her hourly check, which is still less than 1/6 of my hourly rate.
The point is spending time worrying about what other people think is colossally unproductive. And it’s not fun either.
Niels, big boy, I believe we have a date this Tuesday? :p
I disagree with #9. Trust me, Niels gave spot-on advice and coaching before anyone knew about the show. True, maybe it is possible to be an engineer and also have a social life. But this isn’t about just “having a social life” or “being cool” or “making money.” It’s about trying to find your purpose in life, and that can be some difficult stuff. I have a lot of respect for people who are willing to wander around in the wilderness without direction for a little bit, rather than stick to a path just to be on a path even though they know in their heart of hearts it isn’t the right one.
You’ve read “Way of the Superior Man,” right, Niels? That has some awesome stuff about finding your own purpose and being true to it (in addition to stuff about women.) I refer back to that book often, and when it makes me feel energized I know I’m on the right track, but when it makes me feel guilty then I know I’m not being true to myself.
Enjoy the journey!
What’s the “trap of knowledge”?
Oh, and don’t buy a house. That’s the “trap of debt”, also called the golden handcuffs, and it’s bad. It creates a situation where if a great opportunity comes along in the future, you may not be able to take it.
keep doing what you gotta do! Good Luck!
I find it interesting that you want to hang up a poster of South Africa, since we share a first name and i’m from south africa - hahaha!
If my environment includes my family I’m doomed. I’m surrounded by no class, white trash, dumb hicks and some of them are drug addicts. I need to get away from here, I’m nothing like these people. Would you happen to want another roommate?
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