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Reference: R: Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini
Cialdini discovered that things that get our attention the most are deemed as important and casual, therefore, we're likely to overestimate their importance.
Furthermore, previous stimuli influences how we act in the future.
This means that we'll be influenced by things that grab our attention the most and then have our world colored by associations to that thing. Each new stimuli slightly alters the lenses through which we look at the world.
In other words, your perceptions influence your thoughts. Your thoughts influence your actions. Your actions influence your character. This means that the sum of all of your perceptions—the environment—will have the biggest impact on who you become.
We are incredibly vulnerable.
This notion has serious consequences because we live in a world where we're bombarded with tones of stimuli from all directions (i.e., information age). We have numerous mediums for information—television, radio, computers Heck, we have so many physical things which
What's worse is it's hard to stay authentic when you live
It means that you need to shield yourself
You can become a drifter being dragged by marketers and salesmen.
You'll lose your authenticity (TK PN: The best way to succeed in business is through authenticity)
You'll come down from your path (PN: Pick the long-term over the short-term)
You'll get overwhelmed by too much stimuli and crack into depression (PN: Meditation cleans up your brain)
You need to develop mechanisms that make you immune to negative stimuli. Or to stimuli that has the capacity to slowly x you from your path.
We become what we do. We do what we think. We think what we perceive.
The place you live, the people you meet, the conversations you have, the content you read, the things you see, hear, and smell will ultimately shape you.
This is connected PN: You are the sum of all things that connect to you
Therefore, it's CRUCIAL to pick your environment wisely.
You must guard it with your life.
Examples of environment shaping ones behavior.
Seeing pictures of winners makes people more successful.
Hearing French music makes you more likely to buy French products.
Having pictures of your clients in your office makes you more likely deliver better value to them.
We need to have a proactive approach to what we let into our perceptions. Especially nowadays, when there's a constant war for attention and we almost swim in a see of stimuli. Social media is engineered to keep our attention because they monetize it. Click-bait'y articles manipulate perceptions. Emotionally charged news shape how we think.
Relevant notes/questions:
Next. knowing that our surroundings influence our decisions, usually, without us being consciously aware of it (TK PN: The environment is a bitch, your second objective is to place cues that, consciously or not, trigger thoughts/actions/behaviors that steer you towards your goals.