The Science of Success- How You Can Hack Your Creativity, Productivity, & Mood Using Your Environment
Listening to this podcast, I got really excited! Matt Bodnar, interviews Benjamin Hardy, PhD candidate at Clemson University in I/O Psychology on his March 15th episode titled, How You Can Hack Your Creativity, Productivity, & Mood Using Your Environment. This evidence-based podcast has amazing points throughout the episode that made me feel like I’m headed the right direction. I believe there is much not understood about the environments we’re in and the influence they have on our actions.
Benjamin says, “Most western people are trained or conditioned to think that we’re very independent of our situation or our context. That who we are in one situation is who we are in a different situation, and we really prize that.” He goes on to cite a Harvard psychologist, Ellen Langer, stating her argument that “who a person is at any one time depends mostly on the context in which they find themselves.” For the last 11 months, I’ve been developing my sphere of influence by on putting myself in environments with people who do the things I enjoy and have values similar to mine that support personal growth and development. I figured, if I’m going to act like the 5 closest people I associate with, maybe I need to be more intentional about where I spend my time? I also began to think, maybe being mindful of my environment since moving to Florida has actually been a very good thing?
Matt and Benjamin have fascinating conversations about the value of being in environments that “disrupt your common beliefs or assumptions” and how personality is “an adaptation to situations”, not a “fixed trait”, as western culture believes. They even talk about how people are twice as capable of doing something if their situation challenged them to do so. This episode is one of my favorites since beginning listening to The Science Of Success two years ago. And, I was able to learn about new books to add to my reading list! Another perk to listening to quality podcasts. The guests and hosts share the books that influence them! I’ve always loved sharing fun facts about the podcasts I listen to and this one covers some areas that get taken for granted. I recommend checking out this episode and The Science of Success podcast by Matt Bodnar. Maybe your change will be inspired by this episode?