How places shape us

Your external world influences your internal world

My external world

In the 1990s, the Moving to Opportunity program studied the effects of living in a low-income neighborhood versus a high-income neighborhood.

Adults who moved to better neighborhoods saw large improvements in well-being. Obesity and diabetes rates dropped and there was a reduction in psychological stress.

Children who moved to better neighborhoods improved their economic situation. They were more likely to go to college and earned on average 30% more than those who didn’t move.

This is just one example. There are countless other studies that prove this same fact. The good news is, you can shape your enviroment to your liking.

Shaping your future

The fact is, a person is so far formed by his surroundings, that his state of harmony depends entirely on his harmony with his surroundings. —Christopher Alexander

We humans are experts at adapting to the environment around us. If we control and create our environment, we can shape ourselves into the person we want to become.

Stop and think about it for a second. You are who you are because of your environment.

The place you grew up, the people you surround yourself with, and the activities you participate in, all shape who you are and how you think.

In Atomic Habits, James Clear writes:

“Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior”

For most people, until around the age of 18, our environment is chosen for us.

Once we become “adults”, we have more control. But still, even after reaching adulthood, the majority of people continue to live in a reactive state, wandering mindlessly in whatever environment they find themselves in.

Don’t fall into that trap. Forge your own path. Be proactive instead of reactive.

There was a time when I wasn’t happy with my environment. My first job out of University was working as a construction manager for a solar company. I was moving around the US every 6-9 months, living in small towns, with not much to do.

I wasn’t able to develop meaningful connections with the people I worked with because our values and interests were so different. Conversations typically revolved around pick-up trucks, guns, and hunting. I was more interested in travel and figuring out how to make money online.

It was around this time I became obsessed with environmental design. It’s the reason I moved to Barcelona. From a young age I knew I loved cities. I wanted to work from coffee shops instead of an office. I wanted to learn Spanish and expose myself to different cultures. I wanted to surround myself with people living life on their terms.

Instead of playing it safe and sticking with my corporate job, I took a proactive approach to changing my environment. I worked backward to figure out how much money I needed to save up in order to quit and create a new path for myself.

By putting more focus into your environment, you too can shape who you become.

Your mind is a garden

If your life is a product of your thoughts and choices, wouldn’t it make sense to pay more attention to the inputs that shape these thoughts and choices?

Cultivate the garden of your mind by planting specific things in there.

Expose yourself to new perspectives, new places, new relationships, new experiences, and you too will begin to change.

Bonus points if you can put yourself into situations that demand more from you. The reason people plateau because their situation is not demanding enough.

Moving to a new country and learning a new language is not “easy”, but again, we humans are adaptable. This adaptability is key to our growth and survival.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin

When I talk about “environment”, it doesn’t just mean your physical location. It can include where you work, the information you consume, the foods you eat, the books you read, the music you listen to, and the people you surround yourself with.

Basically, anything that shapes our “external” world.

In his book Willpower Doesn’t Work, Benjamin Hardy talks about how the external creates our internal: Your worldview, beliefs, and values didn’t come from within you, but from outside of you.

“If you grew up a white person in the southern United States during the 1950s, your worldview would likely have been shaped by that perspective. The same is true if you grew up in Europe during the Middle Ages, or in North Korea during the Communist rule, or in 2005 as a digital native with access to the Internet.”

We are never independent of these contextual situations. We live in a physical world, therefore your geographical location and the temporal era you were born into play a major role in the choices you’ve made throughout your life.

Don’t play the victim card. Your identity and who you become is in your control.

If you don’t like your job, quit and find another opportunity.

If you don’t like where you live, move to a different city.

If your friends don’t encourage you, find new friends.

Growth comes from putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations.

Pay more attention to your environment, to the people, places, and information you plant in your garden, because as they say, “garbage in, garbage out”.

Until next time my friends.

<3 B