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TMHS 228: How to Create an Environment That Supports Your Greatness

People, places, things, and ideas…

This doesn’t just describe what a noun is… this also describes what your destiny will be.

These are the things that make up your environment at any given time. And these are the things that inherently influence your thoughts, feelings, and actions. If you want to adjust the thoughts you carry, the feelings you experience, or the actions you take, you must meticulously look to your environment.

I love the quote that says, “You are a product of your environment, surround yourself with the best!” This statement affirms the fact that we are deeply influenced by our environment, but it also attests that we can change it.

If you’ve decided that you want to have, be, and do the very best things possible for you, then creating an environment that supports your greatness is of the utmost importance right now. In this powerful episode, you’re going to learn the actual science behind why you are a product of your environment. Plus, you’ll be equipped with several life-changing tools and insights to help you build the life that you truly deserve, and put more health, happiness, and success on automatic in your life. Let’s do this!

In this episode you’ll discover:

  • Why it’s so important to invest in yourself.
  • What the observer effect is and how our thoughts and consciousness literally create our world.
  • What the phantom DNA experiment can teach us.
  • How big our electromagnetic reach is.
  • Why we have a tendency to replicate what we see in our environment.
  • What happens in your brain when you’re in a conversation with people.
  • Why letting go is a critical part of growth.
  • The role that teachers and mentors play in shaping our reality.
  • Why changing environments doesn’t automatically change you.
  • The real reason people ask others for advice (this is a truth bomb!).
  • Why we need to relinquish our inner know-it-all.
  • Subconscious reasons why we don’t execute on insights and tips we receive.
  • The most effective way to help the people you care about change.
  • How the our behavior is influenced when we know others are watching us.
  • Why it’s important to know yourself (and plan accordingly!).

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Items mentioned in this episode include:

Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Model Health Show. If you haven’t done so already, please take a minute and leave a quick rating and review of the show on Apple Podcast by clicking on the link below. It will help us to keep delivering life-changing information for you every week!

Transcript:

Shawn Stevenson:  Welcome to The Model Health Show. This is fitness and nutrition expert, Shawn Stevenson, here with my beautiful and talented co-host and producer of The Model Health Show, Jade Harrell. What's up, Jade? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Howdy doody, Shawn. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Did you say, 'Howdy doody'? 
 
Jade Harrell:  I did.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Okay, alright.  
 
Jade Harrell:  I did. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  How are you today? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Today I am sunnyentiful.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Sunnyentiful, okay. What's that? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Feeling plentiful and filled with sunshine. Sunnyentiful.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Oh my goodness, I like that. I thought you were going to go into, 'Sunny days...' 
 
Jade Harrell:  Hey.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  'Sweeping the clouds away.' Shout-out to Sesame Street.  
 
Jade Harrell:  That's right. To this day.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Serious question though. Serious question those. Oscar the Grouch.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Right.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Why?  
 
Jade Harrell:  You understand. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Why?  
 
Jade Harrell:  Because there exists the Grouch in each of us.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  He lives in a trashcan.  
 
Jade Harrell:  We can identify with that.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  How symbolic is that? 
 
Jade Harrell:  It's huge.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Right? 
 
Jade Harrell:  And complains about everything outside of that trashcan. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  I remember one episode they went down in the trashcan with him to his crib, it was like MTV Cribs in the trashcan. It was fantastic. 
 
Jade Harrell:  That's epic. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  I was wondering like what's going on in there. All good.  
 
Everybody, thank you so much for tuning into the show today. We've got a very, very important and powerful episode lined up for you.  
 
This is something that I really work to talk about on as many platforms as I possibly can, and that's the importance of cultivating a positive environment. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yes! And you were just talking about Oscar. That's great, I mean because he was content in his stuff.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  That just came from the ethers right there.  
 
Jade Harrell:  It worked out perfectly. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And as you're going to discover today, we are truly a product of our environments but we're also creators of our environments, and it's very important for you to understand that.  
 
Today you're going to get the science behind why that is, and also some very powerful stories to help to guide you in some practices, in some new mental frameworks to help you to really cultivate an environment that helps to put success on automatic in your life.  
 
We struggle far too much because we're fighting against what is. We're fighting against what's around us, and we can do things about that to change and help to really usher in a new way of living.  
 
Before we do that, I've got to ask you a question. I don't know about you, but for me a big expense in my house is the cost of food.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Oh please.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  What we spend on food, personal care items. We were looking at the budget and I was actually just doing some research for this incredible guest we have coming up. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Okay. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And I was just blown away because one of the exercises was to look at our budget, which I'm just kind of like, "Here you go, you handle that part."  
 
But I looked at it and I was like, "How?" 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Where does it go? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yes. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Where does this food go? And I do have a sixteen year old who's working on his gains all the time.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Understandable. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  A growing five year old boy in the house as well. But I'm not too shy around the plate, you know? So we all get our grub on. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Oh, let me tell you. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And that's one of the things that tied together my wife and I. 
Like this is a woman- she wasn't afraid, she wasn't like, "I'll just take the salad."  
 
No she was like, "Give me the sandwich with the fries, double them." 
 
Jade Harrell:  "And the salad." 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And I was like, "Okay you're cute and you eat. I like that. I like that." 
 
Jade Harrell:  That's the best combo. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  But of course we've evolved in our eating since then, and eating much more nutritious food, and that's the issue though.  
 
That's the issue is that today because our economy is so flipped upside down with government subsidies, we're looking at a situation today where the cost of an avocado outweighs the cost of two cheeseburgers from a fast-food restaurant.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Yes sir.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  So in my premise growing up was like, 'I'm going to buy something so I can get full.' Right? That was the modus operandi, that was the goal. I was trying to get full. I didn't care about nutrition, I just wanted to eat something that tasted good and is going to get me full.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Absolutely. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And that's where most of our society is still living. Today oftentimes, especially in platforms like this where we have all of these amazing health shows, and people who are in our communities who are really focused in health, we forget that the vast majority of our society is still struggling just to figure some of this stuff out.  
 
And so it's a victim of the economies of scale as well. And so with that said, when we make the decision to invest in higher quality food, sometimes we're investing- many times more money.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Absolutely. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And that can be discouraging. But I'll tell you this, before I say this I've got to say this part. Investing in myself was the best decision I've ever made though, because it returned thousands and thousands of times over, but initially I was taking some risk.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Alright? I was just with my wife, she was my girlfriend at the time, and I was like a university student, I had my own little business, my strength and conditioning coaching had just gotten started.  
 
So I was buying like goji berries from the Tibetan School of Medicine. It wasn't just at the local health food store. 
 
Jade Harrell:  I believe that.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  So it was just like, "Oh I shouldn't be doing this, but I have to see what happens." But then eventually I ended up getting goji berries for free at a certain point because life will kind of repay you and pay it forward when you make decisions that are from a higher perspective, from an advantageous perspective. Not just for yourself, but for the world at large.  
 
And so I had to say that first.  
 
Now couple that with the fact that definitely when we go to a Whole Foods, or a MaMa Jean's (that's another health food chain). 
 
Jade Harrell:  Okay.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  If we go to- there's one here in our local area called Fresh Thyme. It's a new place as far as from my experience. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Sure. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And so these places are popping up all over the country, and all over the world really, that are ushering in and supporting and bringing in brands that are not using GMOs, that are using organic, that are using grass-fed, that are using things that aren't treated with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, genocide. So it's avoiding those things.  
 
You can go in there and know that you're going to get a higher quality product. The issue though again, is the cost.  
 
And so how are we getting around that? Well something that has been saving us so much money, it's absurd. I know that we probably the rest of the year here, we're probably going to save at least $1,000 easily, is by shopping through Thrive Market. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Okay. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Alright Thrive Market is a membership community that uses the power of direct buying to deliver the world's best healthiest food and natural products to the members within Thrive Market at wholesale prices, and to sponsor free memberships for low income American families as well.  
 
And this has just been game changing. You know first, when I started using Thrive Market I was kind of shocked. Like how is it possible? Because like this higher quality- you know the toothpaste that doesn't contain fluoride, or parabens, and that kind of thing that we've been using for a couple of years, it was half price and I'm just like, "How is this possible? And I get free shipping!" 
 
So I was just a little bit wary. Like is this even going to last? How are they even able to do this? And what they do is they partner with brands, they partner with the best brands, they cut out the middle man and give directly to the customers.  
 
And the membership, it lasts for an entire year when you get a membership, and it pays for itself within the first purchase. It's just amazing.  
 
And so also- 
 
Jade Harrell:  And that's not an unfamiliar model, we do that all the time. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah. You know there's a lot of memes going around too on the 
Interwebs, and there was one with Michael Jackson. I think it was the 'She's Out of My Life' song, right? And he's like standing in a dark room and looking down, looking sad, and it's just like thinking about how much money I spent on food.  
 
And it was just like when I saw that, I identified with that so much.  
 
But part of that too is the experiments that we have to take on. Like 'I don't know if this is going to be good or not,' because when you're getting higher quality products, sometimes they don't always taste the best. We'll put it like that. 
 
Especially when you're used to Cheesy Poofs, right? With super Cheez Whiz like drilled into double stuffed Cheesy Poofs. 'It's my Cheesy Poofs, kitty cat! It's mine.' 
 
And so it's a whole different ballgame when you're trying to eat the natural tortilla chips or something, you know? You're experimenting.  
 
And so they actually take action to do some of the homework for you. What are the best brands? What are the tastiest brands? What are the products that are the most popular because they work the best? And so they take out a lot of that time, and energy, and wasted money by getting the best brands in their specific niche. Whether it's personal care, whether it's home cleaning products.  
 
So we get our laundry detergent, we get our dishwashing liquid. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Really? 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah some of the stuff again, you'll see at your favorite natural health store for half the price. It's crazy.  
 
So what they have is between 25% and 50% off the prices that you'll see at typical stores. And how they're able to do this, again they cut out the middle man and work directly with brands and pass that savings along to you.  
 
They've got the best brands and they've got categories you can check under when you go to the site; non-GMO, organic, you can look under vegan, you can look under 
gluten-free. They've got a really great array of gluten-free products, paleo, sustainably farmed, et cetera. 
 
And here's the kicker, guys. You will get an additional 25% off of your first purchase and free shipping plus a free thirty day membership by going to www.ThriveMarket.com/modelhealth.  
 
And also again, keep in mind you're already getting 25% to 50% off of the prices that you'll see at a typical store, plus 25% off your first purchase.  
 
So make sure to head over there, check it out ASAP, and get the membership. It's beyond worth it. It saves you money every single time, and easily we're going to save over $1,000 just in the rest of this year with as much food and the personal care items that we utilize as a family. 
 
Jade Harrell:  I love it.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And so again, make sure to check out 
www.ThriveMarket.com/modelhealth to start saving today, and giving your family higher quality products without breaking the bank. Make sure to check them out. 
 
And on that note, let's get the iTunes review of the week. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Alright, here's a nice one. Five stars that says, "Outstanding job. Shawn, your podcast took me and my husband on a total new level up. As a biologist myself, living a very disciplined and healthy lifestyle for years, I realized that there's so much more that I must still learn. 
 
We have been amazed by the richness and knowledge in each podcast, great variety of all kinds of guests from sportsmen to doctors. Each episode expands my horizons in an amazement of how unique our body is and the simple truth about the necessities to get back to basics, wholesome lifestyle as God originally intended us to enjoy. 
 
Jade you're a great co-host and I like what you add to the show. Opportunity for simple people, down-to-earth to process information, or clarify even average people who have no clue about scientific terms.  
 
You guys both balance each other well, and it's great to have a few jokes here and there as the brain is trying to process the just received new and high level information. Great job." 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Oh my goodness, I love that so much. That is so powerful. I just really don't even have any words to express how grateful I am to you and your husband. I appreciate you guys so much. 
 
And everybody, thank you for leaving these reviews for us over in iTunes. If you haven't left a review yet, what are you waiting for? Head over and leave us a review for the show. It means the world to me, and Jade as well. 
 
It just helps to get the show out into the hands and the hearts of more people, so please make that happen if you have yet to do so. And keep them coming. I appreciate you so very much.  
 
And on that note let's get to our topic of the day. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Alright. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  So today we're going to be talking about just how important environment is to your health and success in life. And when you hear the word environment, we tend to think about trees, we tend to think about grass outside, water.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah we do, yeah. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Environment is where you're at, alright? The environment is any of the world around you. Alright, so just to make that clear. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right. Where you work, you live, you play.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  But if you want to hug a tree, it's all good. I'm not against a tree hug.  
 
Now with that said, it really begins with the fact that we are not just products of our environment, because we hear that very often that you are a product of your environment, that person is a product of their environment.  
 
Which is true to a large extent, which we're going to cover today, but it's important to really embody and understand that we're also creators of our environment. And I mean that literally. Like right down to the very atoms that make up our physical universe.  
 
And this goes back to Princeton University physicist John Wheeler who states that we live in a participatory universe. He says that the act of consciousness looking puts something in place. We affect the world around us at the quantum level and beyond. 
 
Now this individual, just one of the most storied and kind of admired physicist in the world, he actually passed away recently in 2008. But he was also a colleague of Albert Einstein, who you might have heard of.  
 
So he'd been around a little while.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Great hair.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Right. And John Wheeler also came up with the name 'black hole,' which is describing this unimaginably dense light trapping object that now is thought to be common throughout the entire universe.  
 
And he was also one of the big proponents of something called the Observer Effect. So to really sum this all up, because we're not going to get into a dense quantum physics lesson here today, but just understanding that these studies that had been repeated over and over, and over again have found that just the action of the scientists watching the experiment happen changes what happens in the experiment. 
 
So we're going to dive a little bit deeper to help you to understand how this is actually happening in some of these components, but the bottom line is it's kind of like there is not reality without a witness. There is no reality without especially conscious witnessing, conscious interaction co-creating our world. 
 
And literally like we can see the physical result of that with all of the different things around us right now. All of these things came from the mind of a person, outside of the natural structures that we see as well, but man has been manipulating that for awhile as well.  
 
But that's the power of our mind, but that's taking a physical action to it. But just the thought itself puts things in motion, it starts to change things.  
 
And so just to dive a little bit deeper, we have Dr. Vladimir Poponin who is recognized as a leading expert in quantum biology. And he did this really fascinating experiment where they had a tube, a vacuum tube, and if you know anything about kind of scientific experiments, within a vacuum there is nothing. Like it's an empty, totally empty space.  
 
However scientists also know that there are still going to be some particles, these photons are still going to be present just because you can't really get rid of them. 
They're very, very tricksy. Alright? They're always finding a way to still be around.  
 
And so what they did was they took this vacuum and they added some human DNA into the vacuum. And they had these photons that were just kind of scattered around within the vacuum, and something really interesting happened.  
 
When they put the human DNA into the vacuum, the photons conformed to the DNA. Like they all attached themselves to the human DNA, and kind of put themselves in the shape of that DNA. 
 
Okay that's just step one. So what they figured was that, "Okay whoa, that's pretty interesting that that would happen, that human DNA would affect the very particles." 
 
And by the way, when I'm talking about photons, this is the stuff that our reality is made of, alright? This is the very kind of basic building block of our reality. 
 
So human DNA affecting it at that level, so they figured, "You know what? We're just going to go ahead, we'll take the DNA out," and you would think that they're just going to go back- these photons are just going to go back to their random kind of scattered position that they were in before.  
 
They took the DNA out and they were shocked to see that the photons stayed in the form of the human DNA even after it was gone.  
 
And that's why- this is actually called the Phantom DNA Experiment. And again, this is something that's replicated as well and it's just so strange that human DNA impacts the physical stuff of the world around us.  
 
Whether you're aware of it or not.  
 
Jade Harrell:  It's happening. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  So when I'm saying that you are a creator of your environment, that is not a joke. It's not like, "Yeah! I can create my environment!" 
 
Jade Harrell:  Presto! 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  You literally are whether you know it or not. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Nothing up his sleeve.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Now I'm going to take this a step further. A lot of this data I was exposed to learning from Gregg Braden many years ago, and just really fascinating.  
 
He wrote books like ‘The Divine Matrix’ and just kind of had some really great information that he was putting forward.  
 
And this is one of the first places that I found out about the Institute of HeartMath, and they do some really just mind-blowing work there as well. 
 
And so what they discovered, they took a- I believe it's called a 
magnetoencephalograph, and they were able to look at the bio-magnetic field that's radiating from the human body.  
 
And they were surprised to see that there's this electromagnetic field that is emitted from the human body that stretches about five to eight feet from your body. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Really? 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  So your heart is like more- it has more electricity, this kind of bioelectricity electromagnetic energy than even your brain.  
 
We've been talking for years the importance of the heart, and it's just kind of this pump if you look at biology, but there's kind of something else going on here.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Exactly, exactly. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And so here's what was found from that, because that's interesting in and of itself. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yes! 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  That even like right now, we're in each other's bio-magnetic space. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And it's called a tube torus, they're interacting, right? And this is why you feel different around certain people. But we shrug that stuff. 
 
Alright so that's one piece. So they did another test here, HeartMath Institute, and this was where they isolated human DNA again, and now they brought in people who were experts in concentrating their thoughts and emotions into this study, and to interact with this isolated human DNA. 
 
And so these experts were told to express feelings of love, gratitude, compassion within the space of this isolated human DNA. And what they found was that the DNA relaxed, it kind of opened up, right? 
 
Jade Harrell:  It was moved with the mind. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  It literally changed its confirmation, it changed based on this feeling that these experts were emitting to it. 
 
Okay already weird enough, we've got enough weirdness in this episode already, but we're just going to take it one weird step more forward and then we're going to transition to more of the content. 
 
But they also had them to emit some different emotions as well; feelings of jealousy, anger, rage, and what they found was that it was a corresponding constriction of the DNA. It started to coil up, it started to shrink itself when exposed to those feelings. 
 
Jade Harrell:  That's interesting that it didn't just move or dissipate, it shrunk, and that that negative energy- 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And what are you made of? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Exactly. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  This is what you are. You're made of DNA as well.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah well that, too. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And so very- and this is an important point is that very specific kinds of feelings have the ability to influence the DNA of our bodies, and of those around us. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yup. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  We have to be aware of this, and this is looking at- we're talking about the cutting edge forefront of science here. So this is kind of like this idea of science fiction, right? Because this seems kind of some Dr. Strange stuff here, right? But actually being science fact.  
 
Alright now big takeaway here is that we are affecting the world around us, and the world around us is affecting us. It goes both ways. 
 
So I want you as we move forward into this episode to be empowered in knowing that you can still bring it to it. You can bring the charge and the energy to the situation no matter what environment that you're in, you can be a light there.  
 
You can be somebody who positively influences the DNA of other people with your presence. Alright? So I want you to be empowered in that, and coupled with it's going to be a whole lot easier and more graceful of a life if you can have some of that support around you as well. You have the right to that. 
 
So now how do we actually create an environment that supports your greatness? There's something really interesting about us humans is that we seem to be more empowered in what we believe in and what we can accomplish when we have the support and belief of others.  
 
And the belief of the people, the support, and the experiences you witness around you have a huge influence on your conscious and especially your subconscious thinking. 
 
So again, whether you realize it or not, the environment that you're in is programming you.  
 
And so this is why- and there's positive implications there, very, very beautiful implications, there's also some potentially negative and destructive implications.  
 
And this is why it can be so difficult for example for people to change, even when you feel inspired to. Even when you know it's the best thing for you, but you still find yourself reverting back to the same habits, the same people, the same places, and the same experiences.  
 
It's because your environment really helped to shape your- literally down to your DNA, down to your cells, and your subconscious thinking as well. 
 
And so for myself personally, music is a big part of our lives, and today- I'm not a big fan of some of the messages, but you know everybody's like, "It's a nice beat," or whatever.  
 
"My mama told me...not to sell work." That song is talking about selling drugs, alright? It's got a tight hook to it, but what about the reality for some people? 
 
And so for me, my mother didn't tell me not to sell drugs. I had the drug dealers actually in my house, I had the drug addicts in my house, and in many ways these individuals were my role models, right? Unconsciously and consciously. 
 
Some of the- at one point we had a next door neighbor who he had the car with the beats, and the rims, but he was selling drugs, and I just wanted to hang out with him.  
 
I remember I got to hang out with him one day, drive around, and I remember I got to even go to a party with him one time. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Oh wow. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And I'm like fourteen years old and seeing this. This was R Kelly Slow Jams time. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Oh yes, yes, yes.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  So I'm like, "This is hot right here." So really inspiring to be that because that was the model. 
 
Jade Harrell:  And it was that for him too, I'm pretty sure it was that for him. One, it created economy depending on what the situation in that community was. But also for him to be that, he felt something to be that for you. And who knows that when he was fourteen.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Right, of course.  
 
Jade Harrell:  You know? 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  We just replicate, you know? We do what we know. And it's really important to understand that oftentimes we don't know what we don't know.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  We don't know that there is another way of living. We don't know until we oftentimes have an example of what that can look like, or something- just even changing environments, which we're going to talk about today.  
 
But like I said, within the household itself, seeing many of my family members really stricken and brought down to their knees in ways that you cannot even imagine because of drugs. 
 
And there were some funny stories along the way, but there was a lot of tragedy as well. 
 
But one of those funny stories- this is a true story, this actually happened. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Okay. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Even today, and this is full confession here, I'm not really interested in having a family pet. It's because family pets have not fared well in the Stevenson household as I grew up. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Oh boy. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  We had like probably- I don't know fifteen to twenty different animals that have come and gone. And just when you get attached as a kid you're just like, "But where's Fuzzy?!" 
 
Jade Harrell:  "What happened to Fuzzy?" 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  "What happened?" You come home one day and just like they're gone because of various reasons, and ultimately I finally- I always wanted to have a Rottweiler. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Oh boy. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And so I come home from school, this was in high school, and there's this Rottweiler. It's a puppy but it's a little bit bigger puppy. 
 
And I'm just like, "What?! What?! This is amazing!" So I'm excited, and I was like, "Is it mine? Can I name it?" And you know, my mom was like, "Yes, you can name it." 
 
I named the puppy Felony.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Oh boy. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Full disclosure. Full disclosure. Mindset at the time thought it was cute.  
 
Jade Harrell:  It was- yeah. It was tight. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Anyways and so I'm just vibing with my dog for several days, and I go to school, and I come home one day and I'm just like, "Mom where's 
Felony?" And she was like- 
 
So my uncle who was on the drug of choice crack cocaine- and people that have been through this experience of having a family member- they'll do anything just about to make a deal happen to get the drug. 
 
And so he actually stole this dog, it had a microchip, and the owners actually found the dog and came and got it.  
 
So I'm just like, "You got a dog from him? Why would you do that?" You know? 
 
And so ever since then, no attachment.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Forget about it, right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And I'm an animal person in a way. Like I'll go to somebody's house, and like the cat that never comes out will come up to me and rubbing on me. He's like, "He never does that." 
 
It's like, "He'd better get away." I'll pet him and hang out for a little while. But the feelings- I'll cut it and get to moving again. 
 
Jade Harrell:  That's right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  But you know that's some healing in my inner child, my small child in me needs to do. 
 
Jade Harrell:  We all could use that because it's usually down to a certain moment where something happened and at that moment we became resolved that, "I'll never do or feel that way again, or go through that again."  
 
And we cut it off at that moment. And that may be a thing that could block some other opportunities.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah, absolutely. And again, this is just a little funny story, but it was me and my little brother and sister growing up in a really volatile situation. 
 
It's not again that my parents, my mother and my stepfather, were innately bad people, they were doing the best that they could with what they knew at the time, and the environments that they came from.  
 
Very trying stressful dangerous situations as well, and they just replicated that. They didn't have the wherewithal like, "I need to really create something different for my children." It was kind of an attitude of just getting by. 
 
But there was a lot of volatility in the household, a lot of aggression, and yelling every day. Just like fearful rage and violence we'd see on a regular basis as well. 
 
And I'm not going to get into many of the stories here today, but I saw some things that I definitely would have an imprint, and even to this day I can still vividly see as a grown man. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Of course. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  But here's the thing, and the question is how did I make it out of that environment and find a way to live a life of value? 
 
And it wasn't until- and I could actually mark this, it wasn't until I met a friend named John Clemmons when I was in middle school. 
 
And what this did was- when I met John, and he lived in the county, we were in this so-called desegregation program where we'd get a bus from the city out to the good school.  
 
And he actually lived out there with his family, it was an African American family, and I hadn't seen an example like that before. I just didn't even know that that was a thing.  
 
And jokingly people would call him County Brownie and these kinds of things. And so we became friends and I went over to his house, and it was so nice, and it was peaceful, and it was loving, and it was attentive, and it was just new and I felt very comfortable.  
 
I felt like I can go to sleep and I know what's going to happen when I wake up in the morning. And it just really kind of changed my paradigm like, "This is the thing, this is possible." 
 
And his parents, like they were successful, they were working, and they were doing things in the community, and it was just really interesting to me because- and here's a big takeaway point from this is that number one, from today with our environment, number one, friends.  
 
Our friends matter a lot. There's that saying that you are the average of your five closest friends. Be it your finances, your level of happiness in life, in your relationship, your weight. Your five closest friends, you take the average of those five, and that's where you are.  
 
It's been said for many years now, but on a deeper level, our friends really- if we're looking at Princeton University research here yet again, they found that the human brain actually 'syncs up' with other people's brains during conversations.  
 
Okay? Princeton University, your brain 'syncs up' with other people's brains. Like your brainwaves will start to match just if there's some rapport and you have a conversation.  
 
You need to know this because you need to be more aware of the conversations you're engaging in, because it is literally changing your brain.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Yes. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And a positive peer group is obviously of the utmost importance, especially as we're growing and developing as children. The parents are like, "Don't hang out with those kids," you don't want your kids hanging with the bad kids, but maybe your kid is the bad kid. 
 
So we've got to change the environment. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right your kid is the influence, that's right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Get our kids proactively- just be more aware of this. Because it's not going to be perfect, there's going to be situations, there's going to be curveballs galore. I know this, I intimately know this but the more that you can engage in this and approach this consciously, the better. 
 
And also positive examples. So that's number is friends. Be more conscious. Like part of our thing is like we're fearful that if we move away towards kind of a negative relationship with a friend of ours who maybe they're the ones who are always getting us to drink, but we're still making the choice though, I'm not giving you the pass. 
But that's what they're about, they're just about getting high, or maybe they're even committing crimes, right? It's just like I'm in the environment, guess what? You've got to understand where that's going to lead and be more proactive. 
 
When you let go, you're making room, I promise you that. That's the thing that we don't really seem to understand. 
 
So often we're hanging onto the old ways that we can't fit in anything new because we're already caught up mentally with this old situation.  
 
So you have to be willing to let go to make room. 
 
Jade Harrell:  I love that. I love that. And in each case you mentioned, there's still- so even on the positive side there was that impact, that exposure, that moment where things changed, things shifted for you. 
 
And I want to take it even a step further beyond just the friendship, but just some key associations. So high school, oh I was great in all the core classes except for science. And then- I mean I just couldn't get that grade right for nothing. 
 
Our teacher paired us up for a project and one little girl that nobody wanted, she paired me with, and she was delightful but she was so incredibly shy it used to just really debilitate her. She wouldn't speak up, she wouldn't try new things, and then she gets paired up with me so she probably was dreading that situation. Like oh my goodness. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Right, yeah! I'm overplaying, I'm sorry, no disrespect.  
 
Jade Harrell:  It's okay, I'm in fire- 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  I'm just thinking of the two-way streets.  
 
Jade Harrell:  I'm sure, I'm sure. Like no offense taken really, I'm secure. I'm totally secure. 
 
But in that exchange, that partnership on a project, that working together on something positive and shared goal, I learned how to appreciate and look at science differently, and I never got a C again. I had A's and B's for the rest of my educational experience. 
 
She in turn opened up and started trying new things, she went out for the track team, she would have never done the-  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Wow, yeah I love that Jade. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right, coming together on something- and we did end up being friends but over time and distance we didn't get to be around each other much. But it really changed the way things worked for me in knowing that I could, and having that experience from being with her. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah I love that. That just brings to light something remarkable in this is that it seems like these instances that really change us, that get us to wake up to these things, they seem like random happenings. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right, couldn't have called it. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Right? But there's this kind of core thing within us that wants to be happy, that wants to be healthy, that wants to be great. And it's just I think that over time we start to settle and we don't really acknowledge that we have this calling within us that wants to get outside of that paradigm.  
 
Because I could have easily not been friends with John Clemmons, but things aligned in my life that had to take place. And also- so that's number one, is friends. 
 
Number two here on really focusing on what can we do to change our environment to cultivate a happier, healthier life, number two is immersing yourself or enabling yourself to be around positive examples of the future. 
 
Positive examples of the future.  
 
So my future seeing, 'I want a family like this.' 'I want a house like this.' 'I want a relationship, I want a feeling like this.' Because it's really the feeling that we're after. It's not the thing, it's the feeling.  
 
And John's family is sort of like the family from Family Matters. Right? Even Carl Winslow on the show, he was in law enforcement. John's dad? Law enforcement. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Wow. Right, was there Urkel?  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  It was probably me.  
 
Jade Harrell:  The Urkel with a little edge.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  I guess I was like the cooler Urkel coming in like, "Got any cheese?" Like eating up all their cheese or whatever. I did eat a lot of cheese back then. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Did I do that? 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Did I do that? 
Jade Harrell:  Right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  My bad. Right, a little bit cooler Steve Urkel. But yeah, coupled with during this time also I met a teacher who took a real interest in me, and her name was Ms. Blackmore. And she was an English teacher, she was a language arts teacher, and there was this part of the semester where we were writing poetry, doing the haikus instead of the little freestyles.  
 
And she actually took one of my poems and she published it in the school newspaper, and when she did that I remember hearing it over the intercom, my little poem, and it made me feel so special. Like she made me feel special, she made me feel like what I wrote mattered. 
 
In essence she really made me feel like my voice mattered. And I'm coming from an environment where you have to speak up, you have to be loud, you have to be aggressive to be heard, and now this was the total opposite. 
 
This was like poetry, and really feeling like I'm heard. And I took that- I was always a good student, but this made it attached to something. 
 
Like I really felt like, 'I like to write,' like I started to like something, and I didn't just feel like I had to do it.  
 
So that's another really important component here, and this is number three on this environment and shifting that for health and happiness, is that teachers and mentors matter, and they matter a lot.  
 
Now we have to come at this consciously, knowing that our mentors and the people that come into our lives that we get to learn from, and approaching their relationship in a more conscious way. 
 
Because sometimes we kind of fumble and screw things up because of our old programming. And so what I mean by that is that around this time also, my heroes in the streets- we moved to a little bit better place, but they'd still come around from time to time. 
 
And I remember seeing one of them, and he came over to my mom's house and he started to look less and less like Nino Brown. Right? Because shout-out to New Jack City if you've ever seen that movie, but Nino Brown was like this top character, like he had all of this fortune, and fame, and coolness.  
 
He started to look more like Pookie. Alright, he was starting to change. This was the Chris Rock character. 
 
And I'm just like, "Hmm." You might idolize this individual, but you have to be aware of where that path ends. And I think that too often we think that, 'I'm not going to end up like that. I'm going to still do the same dangerous negative thing, but I'm not going to end up like that. I'm smarter than you. I'm smarter than him.' 
 
And so it's important that we really face and be aware of the results, and seeing specifically in the lives of the people around you, you have to be aware of this. 
 
You have to open yourself up, open your eyes, and just look at it. Would you take a look? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Would you look at it? 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  But your friends and family members who don't take care of their health, and this is something we all- everybody listening, I know that you more than likely have battled with this, especially as you've engaged in a more conscious healthy lifestyle, working on yourself.  
 
You want the people around you to do the same thing because we love them. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Absolutely.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And so those individuals who maybe drink too much or commit crimes against other people, you need to wake up and really understand and be honest about where that ends.  
 
Because the more that you're engaging with that, the more likely that it's going to pull you back in over and over, and over again. 
 
Jade Harrell:  And then it goes back to your point about energy. So you'll be pulling away or apart from the energy. What was the 'T' word you said when they come together, our energies meet up somewhere in the middle?  
 
It was a total tubular-  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Total tubular. 
 
Jade Harrell:  A totally tubular thing that occurs and you'll actually have to pull- because it's almost like it creates a whole other entity. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Are you talking about the tube torus? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Tube torus, yes. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Okay, got it. Yes, yes. 
 
Jade Harrell:  The bullish tube there, yes. 
Shawn Stevenson:  You have no choice, you have no choice. But again, this is why again we're not just products of our environment, we're creators of our environment as well. So we can influence those things, and we'll circle back around and talk about how we can best do that.  
 
But for me, and then after I graduated high school, which we did an episode and talked about some of the big struggle that I had in high school, actually getting kicked out for a year of high school because of a fight. And this was again- and we'll put that in the show notes, and make sure to check that episode out. 
 
Jade Harrell:  It's a good one. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  But that was just again- it's important to understand that even when you change environments, you're still taking yourself with you, and it's important to understand that.  
 
Just because you change environments doesn't mean that change happens automatically. When you change environments, kind of like, 'Oh now it's on easy street.' Right? 'Now I'm out of here, and it's going to be-' No you have to be proactive too. 
 
Because the change in environment will change you, but if you can proactively change along with it, it can be game changing much faster.  
 
And so for me and so many other people, part of that really taking and embracing what's happening, and the messages that are coming from our mentors, our most trusted advisors, is letting go of our inner know-it-all. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And so this is important to understand, because you might think that that's not you. But let's be clear, nobody wakes up in the morning every day hoping other people will tell them what to do. Right? 
 
Nobody's like hoping somebody- 'I hope somebody today tells me what's best for me.' Right?  
 
Jade Harrell:  And they're forced to do that 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Because we already feel like we've got that handled, we don't want somebody else telling us that.  
 
Now many times what we're doing, even if we ask the advice; if you're asking for somebody's advice, what you're really doing is you're just wanting them to affirm what you were going to do anyway, alright? That's why you're asking advice. 
 
You're not really asking so that you can change and do something different, you're just asking for them to affirm what you already wanted, what you were already going to do. 
 
And when they don't do that, guess what? You create resistance. When they don't do that, you might start to have a little bit- 'Well they're not that good.' 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah you start to qualify them. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Because that's what we do with our inner know-it-all that gets us into a lot of trouble. 
 
Jade Harrell:  That is so true. That is so true. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And it's important for us to understand that we are emotional creatures, and the emotional creatures that we are, when we get our minds set on something, and we could put rationality and wisdom from others to the side, because we're so emotionally attached and invested in something.  
 
And for example it's like, "Oh you've been married happily for ten years and deeply love each other? Well I know that my last five relationships ended terribly, but I think 
I've got it this time. Your example is cute, but your advice isn't going to work for me." 
 
These are some of the subconscious things that we're unknowingly doing, or also asking like with a situation like that whether it's finances, relationship context, health. 
Right somebody's got something figured out, and it's just like, 'I think I've got it.' 
 
It's like the last ten attempts have failed, so why would we do that? Why do we do that? Why do we brush off the great opportunity for mentors and people who have the results that we want, is that we have subconscious beliefs like these.  
 
Here's one, 'Oh that's just them.' 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  'They have the fill-in-the-blank advantage. They have more money. They have more time. They have more time to spend with each other. They only have three kids, I have five.' Right? 
 
Jade Harrell:  I don't know who would say that. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  There's these different things that we'll say in our heads, 'Oh that's just them.' 
 
And also another thing that we'll do, we justify that others' lives don't have a resemblance to ours. When in fact we all have the same human needs and the same driving forces, and we are generally more similar than we are different.  
 
So with this example, we'll justify that they live over there, they have a totally different lifestyle, but I promise they just want to be happy. I promise they just want their family to be healthy. I promise that they want to have enough money at the end of the month instead of month at the end of the money so they can have a sustainable livelihood. I promise that they want to do some good in the world and help other people.  
 
It's very difficult again for any of us to do that when our own needs are not met. Like if we go back to the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, like basic stuff.  
 
And another thing that we do here to justify not following our mentors' advice is we think that we can figure out a better way. And that is true to an extent, it can be true, but the wisest among us use our mentors' path first and then build upon what others have already figured out. 
 
That's the whole saying of standing on the shoulders of giants. Alright? Success leaves clues. This is real stuff. This is real stuff, why try and reinvent the wheel? We've already got one. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right? Improve on it. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  "I'm going to make a wheel with a wheel in the wheel." Just do this, start here first. 
 
Jade Harrell:  I think they're called Spinners.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Oh gosh, don't even bring that up. 
 
Jade Harrell:  I'm just saying if you took me back, I'm going back with you. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  I thought you were talking about the little Fidget Spinners. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Well those too. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Alright. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Those too. I went back to the growing up and the influences, the spinners.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Oh you're talking the spinners on the rims. 
 
Jade Harrell:  The rims, yes. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Of course, respect. Respect. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Respect. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Now also, we think that we- this is another one, this is really big, and why we're not following that sage advice is that for whatever reason we tend to think that we have more time than we actually do.  
 
So this is why we'll just go ahead and pine away, take another unnecessary risk, instead of just learning the lesson, instead of taking that advice, instead of taking that information that you might have taken from a physical mentor, somebody you know close to you, or even a virtual mentor, right? Somebody that you've learned from by seeing their videos, or listening to their audiobook or something like that. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Or their podcast. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Now one other thing here is that we think that we can change other people, and this is a big issue as well because when we're talking about moving towards a more healthy, sovereign, positive environment, we think that we can change other people, and that's kind of why we resist doing this step. 
 
When in reality, all change is an inside job. All change comes within the heart, and decision, and mind of the other person. You cannot change somebody. You can force them, but human nature is to rebel and fight back. If not physically, at least mentally to withdraw. 
 
Now again, all change is an inside job. You can't force somebody to change who doesn't want to change. We have to really let that hit us hard and really just take that lump, because this is one of the tough things for us to take on and to understand in our lives, especially if we love people.  
 
But you can't force someone to change who doesn't want to change.  
 
So that's the first thing, is we've got to even manufacture, but life has a way to manufacture these situations themselves, manufacture a situation where they have to change, right?  
 
But we want them to just change just because know that it's best.  
 
And so as an aside here, what is the best way to go about encouraging other people to change? 
 
Now we've talked about this on past episodes, but just to kind of summarize some basic tenets here, some basic ideas that you can carry with you.  
 
Because I get this all the time with people who see me at a live event, or messaging me just like, "I'm really focused on improving this area of my life, but it's my kids are really making it difficult for me. My significant other, my husband, my wife, my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my parents." 
 
We've got these different areas where again, these are the people you love the most that are causing a lot of interference seemingly with you getting to your goal. 
 
And so how- and they're asking like, "How can I get them on board?" Hoo! 
 
Jade Harrell:  That's loaded, right? 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah, that's like the magic question right there. And so here's what I've learned from my firsthand experience, again working clinically with thousands of people in a one-on-one context, but many hundreds of thousands of people through other- through live events and things of that nature. 
 
First and foremost, the best thing you can do for them is to be the example. Be the example. Focus on you because again, you can't change somebody who doesn't want to change, so who can you change? Yourself. You can change you. 
 
Focus on that change, focus on improving yourself, and focus on improving whatever area of life that you're working towards. Put your heart and soul into that, and be ready to combat a little bit of the negativity blowback at you, because it's going to come more than likely, and just keep moving forward. 
 
Understand that they love you still, and they're just- especially when you start to see somebody change because you're interacting. You know that tube torus that we talked about. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right, tube torus. I've got it locked in now. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  They're interacting, they're going to feel differently when you're around, right? And especially if they're used to one feeling, and now it's different, even though it's better, even though it's more positive (let me put it like that), that can create a negative response because like, 'I don't know if I want to feel that way. I didn't choose to start to feel this good, and this inspired.' Right? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right, it could be a shocker.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  So be the example. 
 
Jade Harrell:  So if you want to make the world a better place, you've got to make the change with the man in the mirror. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Oh my goodness, 'you know it!' 
 
Jade Harrell:  I knew you was going to go with me! 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Now next up, you want to tie the change to something that they want. That's another way to open up that change portal for them.  
 
Because again, you can't change somebody who doesn't want to change. How you can make it so they want to change, is tie the change to something that they want.  
 
So a great example, my oldest son, with him really dialing in his nutrition I tied it to his athletic endeavors. And he's seen the results firsthand. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Oh yeah, and he took off with it. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  He's got other kids just right there following his lead at his school, making better decisions as well. Like today he went in, he had football camp this morning, he had his Organifi, he had his protein powder, all this stuff and he's just fueling himself up. 
 
And yesterday, like the amount of work that he put in yesterday, I was just like- I even told him, I was like, "You're going to be a mess tomorrow."  
 
Jade Harrell:  Right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And he's like, "No I'm not." And I don't usually speak like that.  
 
Jade Harrell:  He's not even worried. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  I don't usually speak like that, but I'm like, "Why are you putting" because he had two practices, then a fifteen minute leeway, then another practice that he chose to take somewhere else that he didn't have to do. And then he was working right after that, his little part-time job at the gym. 
 
I'm just like, "Okay." But the thing is he was like, "I know what to do. I'm going to focus on recovery, I'm going to make sure I get a great night's sleep." And he scripted out his whole day when I was picking him up yesterday from the job. 
 
Jade Harrell:  I love it. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  He was like, "It started off this morning, I didn't feel tired when I woke up this morning," because he got off the screen.  
 
Jade Harrell:  He's getting all the tools he needs to make this right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And that was the catalyst, and also you know he's doing the EASE Magnesium. And guys, if you're utilizing that, make sure to check that out. That's at www.EASEMagnesium.com/model. So check that stuff out.  
 
But he's utilizing that, he's even doing the deep soak for the bath and things like that, and obviously optimizing his nutrition as well. 
 
So now we're going to move on to another point here with affecting change in the lives of others, inspiring the change is to be consistent yourself.  
 
One of the resistant parts is like somebody knows that, 'When I make this change I'm going to have to be consistent.' And if you can show them what that looks like. If they don't see you bouncing around up and down, left and right with what you're doing with your exercise routine, getting to the gym, or with your food.  
 
Like "I'm doing this whole healthy thing," and then you come around a couple weeks later and you've got some White Castle. 
 
Jade Harrell:  You don't even want me to tell the story.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  You're just like- and in their brain they're kind of like, 'Yes, they're back. Chicken rings.' But in reality you want to be consistent yourself.  
 
And another thing here is- and this is a huge tool guys, is direct them to someone else. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Really? 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Direct them to someone else.  
 
Jade Harrell:  I like that. Save yourself. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  It's because this proximity- there's two parts to this. Proximity is power in one degree, but another degree is proximity breeds familiarity.  
 
Jade Harrell:  It does. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  So they're just like- you know if it's your mom for example. It's like, "I changed your diapers and you're going tell me how to get my blood sugar together?"  
 
Jade Harrell:  They know you so. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  But they're not saying this outwardly, or even in their approach to you, but this is like subconscious there in their mind. Like they think they know you so well, and to see you change or talking about change, it might be difficult for them to wrap their mind around.  
 
So the best thing to do, hand them a book. 'Sleep Smarter' has been one of those gifts, and I've seen it so many times.  
 
Jade Harrell:  It's a great one. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  People send me an email, or tag me on social media that they've given their book to their mother, they've given the book to their sister who's had sleep problems, and that's a really powerful way to go about it.  
 
Podcasts make it super easy, you can send a podcast to people. Audiobooks, articles, things like that. Allow somebody else, allow another person to do the work for you. 
 
And so to move on here, and that was just a little aside, and something that I know impacts a lot of our lives which is how can we encourage the change in the lives, the health, the happiness, the wellbeing in the people that we care about?  
 
But to really shift gears and get back to how do we create an environment that's encouraging to us, that's encouraging our success, and our health and happiness? And I've got a fourth point for you that I'm going to share right after this quick break. 
 
Alright so we're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back. 
 
Alright we are back and we are discussing today how to create an environment that supports your greatness.  
 
And the next point here that I wanted to discuss is when we're working to create an environment that supports our health, and our happiness, and our success, we want to seek an environment that offers accountability.  
 
So that's the fourth point. Seek an environment that offers accountability. And we talked earlier about the Observer Effect in physics.  
 
There's also an Observer Effect in psychology as well, also known as the Hawthorne Effect. And this is a form of reactivity in which subjects modify an aspect of their behavior in response to knowing that they're being watched.  
 
How often would you change when you know you're on camera, right? If you know somebody's recording your activity in an elevator, are you going to be making out a lot with your significant other, or a random in an elevator if you know you're being watched?  
 
People are going to change their behavior. Or at work, right? You're changing your behavior at work because you know somebody's watching you.  
 
Or you want to take this to the level that we're discussing here, working on your goals, eating the right foods for your body and your goals, making sure that you're at the gym.  
 
A great part of this today that lots of people are taking advantage of is having a trainer, right? It's that accountability. It's an environment where the accountability is persistent. It's persistent within that culture, right? 
 
So that's something that we can seek out and take advantage of when we're really working to put this stuff together for ourselves. 
 
Again, we want to put this stuff on automatic in our lives. And me being a strength and conditioning coach for well over a decade myself, and seeing how many people would just- knowing that I'm waiting on them, knowing that I'm the accountability, that I'm there looking out for them- 
 
Jade Harrell:  Let me tell you. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Really motivated them to take action, to show up, and to get the work done, until it becomes a part of who you are. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And it's also about knowing yourself too. Know thyself, right? The great tenet. Know thyself.  
 
Some people, they must have that accountability in order for them to do certain things. Like they know that, 'This is not my sweet spot.' 
 
Gary Vaynerchuk is a good example of that. I had a conversation with him, and he's just this megastar online. I think he's got a new show coming out on Apple. They're doing movies now, or shows, TV shows, something like that called Planet of the Apps. Right?  
 
It's him, will.i.am, Jessica Alba. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Alright. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  With Gary Vaynerchuk. 
 
Jade Harrell:  I love her, yeah.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Some people don't know about Gary V, but they definitely will. And so he's just- he started off online as kind of this YouTuber doing the video shows. Right? He had his own show, Wine Library TV. And it started off with his father's wine business, which was maybe a couple million dollar business, and he took it to like a $140 million business by leveraging activities online. 
 
And he's like- he has a book called 'Crush It.' Right? It's a little parody on the crushing of the grapes, but also crushing it in life. And he has that persona.  
 
And so we were actually having dinner together, and it was him and a group of amazing people, and I asked him about this. Like, "I see your switch now, like you've been focusing more on your health and fitness lately. What's going on?" 
 
And he was like, "I'm starting to play the long game now. I was very shortsighted, I was going after my goals, I was crushing it, but if I'm going to be here and actually-" like his goal is to own the New York Jets. If he's going to own the Jets, and real talk I mean he's well on his way.  
 
"I need to play the long game, and I need to put more intention into this. But I know myself. This is something I don't care much about, except for the end result." So he hired somebody that travels with him to make sure he's doing his food, and his exercise.  
 
Most of us don't need that kind of accountability, but- and some people are like, "Well I don't have the means to do that." There are always ways, we've talked about this before.  
 
Jade Harrell:  There are ways, oh my gosh there's ways.  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  It's about being resourceful. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yes. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Not having a lot of resources. Because if you're creative enough, if you're devoted enough, if you're funny enough, there's different things in our character and in our skillset that we can utilize to make things happen, right? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Absolutely. And there's something about that word 'resourceful,' because we're full of sources. They're all around us, it's just how are you going to reengage them for yourself? They exist. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  You know what's so interesting today, we have online accountability as well. A lot of people are involved in different groups, Facebook groups and things like that where people are like putting their information out, tracking like, 'I'm starting this thing and I just want to let everybody know that I'm going to be doing-' 
 
There's different ways to go about this. There's social accountability, and then there's even just partner accountability or one-on-one partner.  
 
Jade Harrell:  There's another good one, it's called The Fat Loss Code that Shawn Stevenson created that has that accountability and Shawn actually checking in with us a few times a week and on a regular basis to help us with that as well. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah so www.TheFatLossCode.com if you're not in the Fat Loss Code program.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Get there, be there. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  We've got a really great group of people there.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Yes, it's fantastic. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  So I wanted to really summarize this with seeking an environment that offers accountability with this important aspect of work. Right? 
 
Our work- when we're thinking about environment it's not just- because today we might be thinking about 'my home environment, my hangout environment,' but also your work environment.  
 
That matters a lot because this can be one of the primary places where we're making poor food choices, where we're making poor relationship choices, where we're engaging in gossip instead of like, 'How can I get my bank account together? Or how can I get my health together?'  
 
I'm talking about what fill-in-the-blank Kardashian was doing. You know, and not to say that you can't do that, but it can get skewed and we can get caught up in what's not important, and basically majoring in minor things, right? 
 
And so thinking about that as well, that you can actually take yourself, and implant yourself in another work environment. It is possible. The first thing that's going to come to mind is like, 'I can't just change jobs. I have such-and-such, I have bills to pay, I have this and that.' 
 
That is true, and I understand that, and I definitely understand. Do know want to know how many jobs I've had before I graduated?  
 
Crazy stuff just to take care of my kids, to pay the bills, but I had to keep my eyes on the prize. I had to keep my locus of focus.  
 
Like where do I really want to be? What's the career that I really want to be involved in? How do I really want to serve? What makes me really light up and makes me excited to get out of bed in the morning? 
 
You have that right to do that work, you have to choose it though. Nobody's going to choose it for you, and it's not like- sometimes there's like one day. Someday. Someday Isle. Right? Someday Isle.  
 
That's the trip we want to go on. "I'm going to go to Someday Isle. It's going to be amazing. Tom Hanks is going to be there. We're going to crack coconuts." 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah he will. That's right, that's right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  But Someday Isle doesn't exist. That's the thing. Maybe it's the Bermuda Triangle, you've got to be careful. Alright you've got to be careful around there.  
 
But that place where we're postponing it, what we need to do is really start to see it now, right? And understanding with quantum mechanics that your intention, your energy right now is creating your life.  
 
And so to take more ownership of that, that's it's already happened, it's already done, and act in that way.  
 
That body that you want to have.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Treat it like that. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  You have to become it in consciousness first. How does that person talk? What is the internal dialogue that that person has? How do they engage in relationships? Right?  
 
Are they in disempowering relationships and in negative relationships with other people who are taking advantage of them? Is that that kind of person? If not, you've got to switch gears. How does that person walk? Maybe it's in the context of that job that somebody wants to have.  
 
"I want to get out of this place of employment and go to someplace better or start my own thing." But our work ethic, we're bringing the 82% work ethic to the job we're already doing, and we expect we're going to go 120 when we do something that we really enjoy.  
 
When it's a habit, it's a way of being. How you do anything is how you do everything, and if you can bring that 120 modality and that attitude towards the place that you already are, that's a signal to all of life that you're going to carry that over.  
 
You already have what it takes to be an entrepreneur. You already have what it takes to do this higher order job where you have more responsibilities and things like that.  
 
Because that's the issue is that we're so often like, 'Once I get there, then I will.' You do it now. 
 
Jade Harrell:  That's right. That's right. And include in your 'now' is an environment that you're in now. So you might have your sights set, you can create- say it's at that desk and you need to maybe put a plant there, or put some almonds there, or put a sign up and say- 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Put an almond plant.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Put an almond plant, how about that? But or even a sign- even if you're in a cubicle you could put a sign that says, 'Working on a project, please don't disturb,' or something. 
 
There's ways to create that now, also can support the goal you're setting, and your sights that you're setting forward that you were just talking about.  
 
So then there might not be a Someday Isle, but there is a 'meanwhile.' 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Meanwhile Boulevard. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Meanwhile Boulevard that you can also utilize to take the right path to get there. A direct path to get there. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah, love that. Love that.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Put a plant on your desk. A Jade plant. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Bottom line, put a jade stone. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Why not? Why not?  
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Alright so- 
 
Jade Harrell:  Great for your kidneys. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  That's the four points that we've covered thus far of how to create an environment that supports your greatness. 
 
We're going to move to number five, and this is something really important. Number five is understanding- deeply understanding that proximity is power, right? Proximity is power.  
 
You want to get yourself proactively in the environment of the things that you want. Get yourself in the environment of people with great health and fitness. Get yourself in the environment with people who have their relationships handled. Get yourself in the environment of people who have the financial success that you aspire towards.  
 
This is a call to action and something that you can implement immediately. Number one, get involved with some Masterminds. We talked about this on an episode with Pat Flynn, which we'll put that in the show notes.  
 
And he's one of my favorite humans walking around, I love Pat Flynn, and he's created just an amazing life for himself out of desperation.  
 
You know again, he didn't foresee where he is today, but it came out of some pretty tremendous hardship, and something that's kind of shattering his dreams. But there's always a way, and it's just how much clarity can you get on who you want to be, and the life that you want to have? 
 
And he details that story, but also how powerful Masterminds are.  
 
Another thing is meetup groups. There are meetup groups popping up all over the place. That's kind of the whole point of meetup groups. But one of the things- I just talked with Eric Thomas, Dr. Eric Thomas, AKA E.T. He's been on the show a couple of times, again one of my favorite people. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yes. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And so they do these meetup groups with their Breathe U students, the Breathe University students when they go to different cities, and things like that. 
 
But the students- and they were sharing this with me, I was talking with his business partner CJ, that the people within Breathe University are getting together themselves and hanging out.  
 
We have that same component within the Fat Loss Code as well. People are connecting, they have their own accountability partner, that kind of thing. But proactively go and go to meetups, go to Masterminds, or you could do these virtually as well. We've got Skype, we've got Google Hangout, we've got so many different tools that you can leverage.  
 
And the other one here, proximity is power, live events. Right? Make a decision on how many live events you're going to attend in a year. That's what I do.  
 
Is it going to be two? Two live events? Pick that, or is it going to be four or five. Whatever the case might be, pick a number, and then find out which two or four or five it's going to be.  
And so that's what I do every single year. I'm like- for my own personal immersion and continuing education. Because a lot of times I might go to an event and I 'know' 90% of the information, but that 10% can be game changing, and it can help me to serve at a higher level. And that's what it's really all about.  
 
But sometimes also going to things that are really outside of your realm, too. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Please do. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Oh I've been there. Like you just get hit with the fire hose because it's so much kind of paradigm shifting information. So do that, live events, get yourself a proximity because some of the biggest transformations happen at live events because there's an emotional opening as well, and to really drill down with change to the brain.  
 
It happens through repetition, we've talked about myelin in depth on the show, and kind of this insulation over nerve pathways firing in your brain; repetition, repetition, repetition. 
 
Another way though is an emotionally charged event we create. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Because something that you might not have repeated in your life, you can bring up that memory, it's so clear but it was something that was very emotional. 
 
Jade Harrell:  That's what Jim Quick taught us. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Right and so maybe this was even a tragic event, maybe it was a beautiful event, the birth of a child, things like that. This can be something that is right there and it's drilled into your memory, but it was just one time. It was just one incident because it was emotionally charged.  
 
So that's some of the powers of getting yourself to those live events, and understanding that proximity is power. 
 
And number six, this is our final point here in today's episode of how to create an environment that supports your greatness.  
 
Number six is to deeply- every point here today are things to really deeply understand, to work on, but for us to embrace the fact that there are no barriers anymore to you being in a different environment. 
 
There was a time during my childhood, like if you go outside, nobody can get in touch with you. There was no such thing as a cellphone. And there was always- like if you wanted to learn something, you've got to go to a library.  
 
If you want to know something today, pull out your phone and you can answer any question you can come up with. Like where's Waldo? Right? It's going to try and figure that out for you, too. 
 
Siri, where's Waldo? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  But the reality is, in all seriousness, the answers to the questions that here before we didn't have access to unless you were in the group, right? You were in the insiders, you were one of 'they' as DJ Khaled would say.  
 
Jade Harrell:  They don't want you to know. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  But today there are no barriers.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  You have access to instant information about anything that you want to learn right now, and it's up to us to take advantage of that.  
 
And one of the mediums for that, for changing your environment, right now you are with me.  You're in The Model Health Show community, you're a part of this with me. And podcasts, utilizing podcasts.  
 
That changes your environment, it changes your mental space, and this is a huge opportunity. 
 
There's hundreds of thousands of podcasts right now, and this is available for all of us at the click of a couple of buttons on our phone or on our device, and this has never existed before.  
 
This is like- some of these things are university level education, and it's right there in your phone. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Some of your episodes are university. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  So we've got podcasts, we've got videos, all the amazing things on YouTube. Like today a lot of people- and I've done this too, you don't just Google it, you YouTube it.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah. 
Shawn Stevenson:  Right? Same thing there. So you immerse yourself in that culture and it's hitting another one of your senses. 
 
Though podcasting is my preferred medium because you can go anywhere. You have that NET, no extra time, N-E-T that you can imbue and take part of in this education and this information, and really change your thinking via that way. 
 
Jade Harrell:  I say that you don't have to say no to something else in order to say yes to the podcast. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Yes, yes I like that.  
 
So podcasts, videos, social media same thing. No barriers. Follow people who inspire you, right? Again, following Blank Kardashian, that's one thing and you don't have to unfollow them.  
 
But if you want to feel motivated, and inspired, and to get tips and strategies to improve your life instead of trying to keep up with the Joneses, then follow those people that really put you in that mental space, that make you feel good about yourself and don't make you feel like you're not enough, right?  
 
You have that opportunity. Another way that you're creating the environment, what environment are you engaging in on social media? What's your social media environment look like? 
 
Jade Harrell:  Right. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Be conscious about that today moving forward. 
 
Books, audiobooks; these are the timeless things, are our books, these relics now sometimes. You don't often see books as much as you used to because of all these other mediums, but it's another valuable place to really change your internal environment as well as the external.  
 
Having that physical book in your hand is an experience. 
 
Jade Harrell:  It is. And let me just say, in all these things you mentioned, if you found a connection with us and The Model Health Show, all of those places, Shawn makes it a point to be available there as well, as many places as possible. 
 
There's a meetup with the Fat Loss Code, he's on social media @ShawnModel. You've got the audiobook, you even have the tangible book. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Live events.  
 
Jade Harrell:  You have live events. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Live events. We do live events all over the place. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Every potential way to make a tangible connection, and if you've already got one here, there's a way to continue that and expand on that.  
 
Just like he said until you actually get it, or you want to take it further to the next level. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Yes. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And one more point I want to reiterate here is take advantage for sure of these different mediums. Listen to the podcast, but here's another takeaway, and something that I've done personally, re-listen.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Yup, oh man. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  Re-listen. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to the same audio interviews and lectures over, and over, and over again when I was getting started in really transforming my life ten, fifteen years ago. 
 
I just like- and I had them on CDs. Right? I'd just like burn them out because I was really changing the way I was immersing my brain and my thought process in that information until I knew it better than the person telling me. 
 
And so really utilize these tools but don't just be like, "I know that already." Re-listen because I promise- here's the beautiful part is that nine times out of ten you find something that you missed. 
 
Nine times out of ten you hear something differently, in a different tone or different texture, a different color than you did before, because you're different. 
 
Jade Harrell:  You're different. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And you have this updated version of yourself and you're listening to something you previously have, you're going to see something different.  
 
That's the power of these different mediums. So again, there are no barriers. Immerse yourself, be aware of your online culture, your online environment as well because all of these are really going to help to create the body, the life, and the health that you truly want.  
 
And I really hope that you got a lot of value out of today's episode. I can't stress enough how important this is. I've seen this firsthand in my own life in many different ways, in the lives of the many people I've had the opportunity to work with and to serve, and how important our environment is, and how we want to be conscious cocreators in that.  
Because your environment, you have no choice but to be influenced by that, but you are also influencing your environment. 
 
So you want to work on those both ways, and make this today the mandate to start in that direction. Take the small step here or there, maybe it's just doing some social media housecleaning, whatever the case might be.  
 
But this doesn't really make change until you make change, until you take action on it.  
And so I'm encouraging you today to really take action, to put something in place, to make a real tangible difference in your life.  
 
I appreciate you so much for tuning into the show today. Make sure that you're subscribed so you don't miss a single thing.  
 
Subscribe in whatever medium you're listening to the show, whether this is YouTube, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify; make sure you're subscribed so you stay up-to-date, and I promise you we've got some guests coming up on the show- it's going to blow your mind. It's going to blow your mind! 
 
Also some of the show topics that we're going to be covering, I'm just very, very excited about what's coming next. So make sure to stay tuned and I appreciate you again immensely.  
 
Thank you so much for being a part of this community. Take care, have an amazing day, and I'll talk with you soon. 
 
And make sure for more after the show, you head over to 
www.TheModelHealthShow.com, that's where you can find the show notes, and if you've got any questions or comments, make sure to let me know. And please head over to iTunes and give us a five star rating, and let everybody know that our show is awesome.  
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And you're loving it. 
 
Jade Harrell:  Yeah. 
 
Shawn Stevenson:  And I read all the comments, so please leave me a comment there, and take care everybody. I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.  
 

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  1. Top of the evening you guys! I just wanted to stop by and say THANK you for all the knowledge you have passed on. Im a thirty two year old akward soul. Im the epitome of “skinny fat, ectomorph, hard gainer” all the above. I struggle with anxiety and alcoholism and EVERY day is a struggle. I reached out to self help and have many options however narrowing down to you guys is great. Your positive vibes SPECTACULARAMAZINGVIBERANTQUEEN of co host gives another splash of personality to the party and the guest that you have are always inspiring. I cant lie I am a mess and I am in the process of fixing it and your show helps every small inch at a time. I thank you once again and look forward not only to my own results but to every future podcast .

    sincerely your homie for life
    Delaney (devon) Yerger

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