Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

The warmer weather has arrived, and we’ve planted the gardens! It’s a busy time of year, especially this year as we’re expanding our ability to grow more of our own food. While it’s a lot of work, especially during the expansion, it’s also a lot of fun.

We all need interesting projects that we can enjoy outside of our work. It’s crucial to maintain an identity outside of what you do for a living.

I hope you had an amazing weekend!

This week, we’ll explore how making changes to your environment, even small ones, can have a surprising impact on your life.

Let’s dive in!

Tim

How a Simple Change Made Our Orchid Bloom (And How It Can Transform Your Life)

My wife and I have had an orchid plant for years. We thought we were doing a decent job taking care of it, and it looked healthy, but it just wasn’t blooming. This lasted for several years. Since it still looked healthy, we kept it around but had doubted that it would ever bloom again.

Recently, we did some renovations around the house and converted a bedroom into an office space for my wife. She got a new bookshelf for the space and moved the orchid to it, not for any reason other than to fill in the bookshelf. To our surprise, within a few weeks, it was blooming with flowers. We were both stunned, but I shouldn’t have been. I’d heard—and firmly believe—the old quote widely attributed to Albert Einstein:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

While we thought we’d been taking care of the orchid, the results we were getting were proving otherwise. We weren’t getting the results, yet we kept doing the same things.

Doing the same things repeatedly rarely allows for change; you must do something different to let change emerge. Sometimes, the change can be simple, much like the orchid’s case.

A change in the environment can yield surprising results. By putting yourself into an environment better suited to you, you may get better outcomes. It doesn’t even need to be a major transformation; it can be simpler than you think.

Environmental Changes to Consider

There are so many potential changes you could make to your environment, of varying degrees of difficulty. Here are a few ideas to inspire you:

Tidy up your workspace: A clean and organized workspace can boost productivity and reduce stress.
Purge your closet: Get rid of clothes that no longer fit or you don’t wear often to create space and reduce decision fatigue.
Stock your fridge with healthy foods: Having high-quality, nutritious foods readily available can encourage healthier eating habits.
Remove junk food from your cupboards: Clearing out cookies and chips can help you avoid unhealthy snacking.
Curate your phone apps: Declutter your digital life by keeping only the apps that add value to your life.
Join a group with a common interest: Engaging with like-minded people can provide support and motivation.
Consider changing jobs: If your current job isn’t fulfilling, exploring new opportunities might be the change you need.
Move to a new home: A new environment can offer a fresh start and new perspectives.
Let go of unhealthy relationships: Evaluating and letting go of toxic friendships can improve your overall well-being.

Obviously, some of these might be difficult to implement, but some are simple. Personally, I recommend starting with some simple changes as experiments. Try them out and see how it feels. It can be a low-risk way to see what works. For the bigger changes to your environment, you’ll want to be more thoughtful and deliberate. You might take longer to make a major shift in your environment, and that’s okay. There’s something to be said about being strategic about major life changes.

The important thing is that you change something in your life if you’re not happy with the results you’re getting. Don’t do like my wife and I did, keeping things status quo yet hoping for a different result.

Let your metaphorical orchid bloom.

Quotation that I’ve been pondering

This week’s quote is from the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu:

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”

Given my interest in philosophy, I’ve thought about the debate between free will and destiny, and this provides an interesting take on it. You’re free to think about anything, but in so doing, you determine your destiny. It’s worth considering the idea at least; there’s a lot of research that shows how deeply one’s mindset can impact on one’s life, and this is just an alternative way of thinking about that idea.

Journal prompt

“What is the one thing I’m most curious about right now?”

We live too much of our lives on autopilot, doing the same things day-in and day-out out of habit. While structure and routine are useful, and are necessary to thrive in a complex world, they can lead to feeling a lack of excitement and adventure in life. And let’s be honest, most of us want life to be fun and exciting.

One of the best ways to reconnect with life is to follow what is making you curious. It’s worth taking some time to reflect on what is most capturing your attention and curiosity and this point in your life, and then investing some time and energy in exploring it. There should be no goal or outcome that you attach to it; just chase your curiosity to see where it leads you.

I’d love to hear what you’re curious about! Let me know, by shooting me a quick note to tim@timparkins.com