#47 Environment
I haven’t had time to post much recently. It’s been a few weeks since I shared my rant on resolutions.1
I have been thinking a lot about goal setting, habits and resolutions prior to posting it. Mostly reflecting on my own experience. Looking back, a few patterns emerge. Most notably, I move often.
Seattle, WA —> Vero Beach, FL —> Albuquerque, NM —> Nashville, TN —> 9 states in 6 weeks —> Lake Forest, CA —> Seattle, WA and, as of next week, Phoenix, AZ.
My first big move, from Seattle to Vero Beach is the only instance that I was moving away from something. I chose Florida because it’s as far from Washington was you can get inside the United States. Every other move was moving towards something.
But moving toward what?
It took me way too long to figure out the answer, so I’ll try and give you the short version:
When I first learned how to make money, I thought maybe I would be a car person. Naturally, I bought my two dream cars. I was excited about it for about two days - then I realized how afraid I was to drive them and how much of a pain it was to get in and out of them. I sold them less than four months later.
Turns out, I’m not a car person.
Realizing this, I did the next most logical thing; decided I was probably a watch person. So I bought watches. Watches that I never wore and often forgot at restaurants because when I did were them, they bothered me so I took them off. I have no idea where any of them are right now.
Turns out, I’m not watch person.
Travel? Nah. Fine dining? Nope. Wine? That’s a negative Ghost Rider.
I’m an environment person.
What pulls me to my next destination is the realization that “this environment is more suited to help me develop the behaviors, beliefs and mindset - to become the person - that I want”
The more time I’ve spent with successful people, recovering addicts (they are often the same people, BTW) and people I want to be around the more obvious it becomes:
It’s significantly easier to change your environment than it is to try and change your existing behaviors in your current environment.
So… my next stop is my next stop because there are behaviors I want to adopt, a mindset I want to lean into and a person I want to become - and Phoenix is the place most likely to support all of that jazz. (For me, right now. We should always reserve the right to change our mind as new evidence presents itself).
I encourage you to look at who you want to become. This will highlight the behaviors you’ll need to change. And then think about the environment you’re in and who you’re hanging out with. Hell, even the weather impacts some people in a significant way. Then, change your environment accordingly and within reason. It doesn’t have to be drastic. If you want to cut back on drinking, spend less time with your friends that are always drinking.
Super simple stuff. Also super powerful stuff.
I’ll dive much deeper on this in the Letter. But, it’s really just an extension of Full Potential: Exposure, Proximity and Access2
Speaking of Exposure, Proximity and Access…
My move to Arizona is to lean heavily into reaching my full potential and helping others do the same through… get this… exposure, proximity and access.
Exposure, Proximity, Access: 2024 Guide
We’re going to start 2024 four days early with some Nicsmas Shenanigans.
Most of our events will be built around the Guardian Academy events at the new Arizona Office. These would be good dates to be in and around Phoenix. The event schedule is at https://www.guardiandates.com/ it should be easy for you to remember if you’re one of those people that refuses to bookmark stuff.
The Arizona office is also designed to be a “clubhouse” - where extraordinary, driven and ambitious people just kinda…hang out.
If you want fancy invites to all the REALLY cool stuff…
I send them out in the Letter each month - and we do some pretty crazy, exclusive stuff. It’s one of my favorite parts of the Letter, sharing the experience.
Anyway, if you want to lean more about the Letter:
If not, that’s cool too.
Everyone’s got their own thing. Mine is exposure, proximity and access - it’s environment. If yours is something different, more power to you.
Lean into it.
Nic