There is a question most of us have been asked at some point: do you see the glass as half full or half empty? It is meant to reveal something about your outlook, your optimism, the way you are wired.
But here is what the question does not ask: Who filled the glass? How big is the glass? And why do we assume that seeing it as half full is the right answer?
I want to tell you about a boat cruise I was on recently.
At the start of the evening, the anchor made an announcement: once we were ten minutes from docking, nobody would be permitted to use the bathroom. Simple rule. Everyone heard it. Everyone acknowledged it.
Halfway through the cruise, I went down to the lower deck to get a drink. The bar was quieter down there, the view was better, and the seating was comfortable. I ordered a cocktail, settled in, and enjoyed the evening exactly as it should be enjoyed.
I completely forgot about the rule.
When I eventually got up to use the bathroom, nobody stopped me. I walked the full length of the deck, unhurried and entirely confident, until I arrived at the door and found it shut. The rule had not disappeared because I forgot about it. The door was already shut. I did not need discipline, willpower, or the right mindset. The environment had already decided for me.
That is the point. Build the right environment and certain decisions become easier because the room has already removed some of the options.
That is the thing about environment. It does not always announce itself. It works on you quietly, shaping what you reach for, what you consider normal, and sometimes what you do without thinking.
David Burkus, author of The Myths of Creativity, has written extensively about what allows people and organizations to produce creative work. One of the ideas explored in the research behind his book is that creativity does not exist in isolation. Expertise and motivation matter, but so does the surrounding social environment: the people, structures and conditions in which the work happens.
The environment may be doing more work than we are willing to credit it for.
Mindset culture has done something useful and something damaging. The useful part is real: your internal narrative shapes your decisions and how you respond to circumstances. The damaging part is equally important: it has placed almost the full weight of outcomes on the individual and quietly removed environment from the conversation.
Mindset culture says: If you are not progressing, change your mindset. If you are not disciplined, work on yourself. If you are not producing your best work, try harder.
There is truth in personal responsibility. But personal responsibility does not exist in a vacuum.
Your thinking shapes your decisions. But your environment shapes your thinking.
Before you spend another month trying to think your way into better results, ask honestly what environment your thinking is happening inside. The people around you. The conversations you are part of versus the ones you observe from the outside. The information you consume every day. The behaviours your environment makes easy. The space where you do your most important work. And perhaps even the things your current environment has made so normal that you no longer notice them.
Sometimes the work is internal. You need to change how you think, what you believe, or what you are willing to do.
But sometimes, you have done enough work on yourself. You need to change the room.
Your mindset matters. But your environment may be doing more work than you think.
Until the next note,
– STB
Notes with STB | A content series exploring mindset, money and business.
Source: Burkus, D. (2013). The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas. Jossey-Bass.
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