PowerGoals / Chapter 6 / Part 2

How to Set and Achieve Goals / That Turn Your Dreams into Reality.

by Dr. Hannes Dreyer (Ph.D.) with Elzet Blaauw.

Chapter 6: The Ten Environments of You

Network.

The next environment is your network. Your network is an extension of your relationship environment. It consists of people with whom you are on a first-name basis, yet you do not have a deep or intimate connection with them. It includes business associations, community organizations, and support groups.

The purpose of a network is usually to provide an exchange of information or to build bridges to people who can support you or whom you can support. Such networks are often found in the business or personal development space. Networks can be a great place for relationships to start. I have seen that some of my students use the network that they built through doing courses and programs together to start friendships and business partnerships.

Networks can propel you forward, but they can also hold you back. You might have joined a network to learn something or to get experience in something. When you are ready to move to the next level and your network is not, or if your network is focused on a specific level, you need to let go and move on. You are not doing anyone else a service to stay put. We sometimes have a misplaced sense of loyalty to a group or organization to which we belong to. It is a fine balance. Do not leave because you are being challenged and required to grow. But sometimes it might be time to leave if you are being held back from growth. Your departure might enable those who stay behind to be better off than if you were to stay.

The purpose of networks is to build bridges, so be careful of burning bridges when you leave. Just because this network is no longer serving a purpose for you does not mean it will not ever serve a purpose for someone else. You might even benefit from it again. But always be aware of where you are in your journey and the influence of a network on you.

Workbook Q6.7: Determine the influence of your networks on your PowerGoal?.

Financial.

The financial environment includes your money, bills, credit cards, investments, stocks, bonds, properties, and so forth, and the people who support your financial well-being – accountants, brokers, financial planners, etc. It also includes the tools and support services or systems you use to achieve your financial goals, which could be computer programs, systems, budgets, and/or banks.

Money makes the world go round, the saying goes. “Money isn’t everything, but it ranks right up there with oxygen,” Zig Ziglar said. The reason money and all the other aspects of the financial environment is so important is because the way that our society functions does not allow us to do the most basic things without it involving money. For 99% of us, our most basic necessities like food, water, shelter, and basic clothing must be bought. Even if you grow your own food, you need to buy or rent the soil in which you plant your seeds – that you also paid for. Even if you get something as a gift, it means that someone else is paying for it.

The same applies to the higher pursuits of life. Because we need money to pay for our basic necessities, most people trade their time for money, leaving them with very little time to spend on relationships, spirituality, looking after their body, enjoying nature, and knowing and growing themselves. One of the big reasons financial freedom is so desirable to so many people is because it gives them time freedom.

I could write an entire book about what money is and how it works. For this book, I will limit myself to defining money as a method through which we exchange value. If you want to improve the way that you think about money, think about it as an exchange of value. Value is relative because it is a perception. Because the value of money is based on perception, we can trade. I can give the Ferrari company my dollars in exchange for a car because that Ferrari has more value to me than my money and that money has more value to them than the Ferrari that they manufactured.

When exploring the financial environment, it is important to look closely at the relationship that you have with money. Your belief systems around money and financial wealth have a profound influence on your relationship with all the things which form part of this environment. Money has energy, the energy that you assign to it through your belief systems. If you have any problems that relate to the financial environment, there is a good chance that it relates to your beliefs about money. So always be open to examining these beliefs if you want to experience a financial breakthrough.

All environments affect each other, but the financial environment might be the one that does so the most because it is one of the environments that we understand the least. Let’s take relationships. Statistics show that as much as 65% of all divorces are caused by financial problems. Almost all couples have had a fight about money or about something that relates to it. One of the reasons for these fights is the relative value of money. What one person sees as financially important is not important to the other one. Most likely, both people do not know how to manage their money effectively, causing stress and strain.

When you examine your financial environment, ask yourself first what you believe about this environment. Along your journey, you might also discover that what you told yourself you believe and what you actually believe is not the same thing. Be willing to own up to it, and be willing to change those beliefs which are not serving you.

Also, ask yourself whether all the aspects of this environment are serving you and your goal. Think of your investments, your service providers, your tools, and the people who work with you. Are they adding energy to you and your goal, or draining energy from you? Are there any changes you can make that will help you along your journey?

Workbook Q6.8: How can you optimize your financial environment?

Do the exercises in the PowerGoal? Workbook.

Learning more about this environment is one of the most powerful ways to make a positive impact in your life and to get you to your PowerGoal? faster, even if your PowerGoal itself is not financial. If you have the opportunity to do so, go for it. If you do not have such opportunities, look for the right ones. A note of caution: many advisers, gurus, and experts want to teach you about money. Be wary. Just because someone has a qualification or presents a course does not mean they know what they are talking about. The way that I determine whether I can learn anything from someone is to ask whether they have successfully done what they teach. It is especially true when it comes to the financial environment.

Physical.

Your physical environment provides visual clues of what is going on in your inner world. If you walk into a person’s office and see a lot of clutter, it could indicate that there are other problems in the person’s life. The same with a person’s car or the clothes that they wear. Clues are not always correct, but they give you a good indication. Your physical environment provides visual clues which allow you and others to discover more about your beliefs, thoughts, energy, and behaviors.

The same as with everything else in your life, your physical environment is what it is for a reason, and that reason is you. Whatever excuses you might give others or yourself, you are responsible for your physical environment. The great part about taking responsibility is that you can change your physical environment. Simply changing your clothes gives you a different experience and puts you in a different situation. You feel different, and other people look at you differently. It is why we wear certain clothes in certain situations. Most people do not wear the same clothes on the beach as they do in a client meeting.

Your physical environment includes things that are under your control and things that are not under your control. For example, the items in your home are under your control because you own them. If you are an employee, most of the items at your office are not under your control. The road that you drive on and the neighborhood in which you live is not primarily controlled by you.

Many people tend to make the mistake to think that because they are not primarily in control of something, they have no control or influence over that thing. That is not true. You have complete control over yourself and therefore over everything with which you come into contact. If you do not like the physical space in which you work, you can do something about it. If you cannot change the minds of those who do have control, you can change jobs or start your own business. If you do not like your neighborhood, you can move.

Most importantly, you have control over the thoughts and feelings that you have about those things. If you do not like a certain outfit that your spouse wears, you can tell them that you do not like it and offer to buy another one to replace it. It might be a good strategy for some people, but definitely not for everyone. But what everyone can do is to change the thoughts and feelings they have about it. Instead of thinking, There is that ugly outfit again, you can think, There is the outfit that (s)he likes so much. You are in control, and through the energy of your thoughts and feelings, you have much more control than you think.

Even those things that you own might end up controlling you instead of you controlling it if you are not aware. Acquiring anything – your house, your car, your clothes, your boat, whatever it is – required you to go through a process, the same transformational process we have been speaking about. It changed you, and it often causes people to attach to that thing. It makes them feel as if a part of their identity is tied up with that thing.

Allowing that to happen can hold you back. Being attached to a thing means that that thing controls you instead of you controlling it. It keeps you locked into being the person that you had to become to acquire it. It might have been a great transformation at the time, but you cannot become stuck and stay that person forever.

When you examine your physical environment, ask yourself what clues it is giving you about those beliefs about life that you might not be owning up to. Ask yourself what clues it is giving others about the person you are and the one you want to be to reach your PowerGoal?. Making changes in your physical environment to line up with the person who is able to achieve your PowerGoal? can be very powerful. I am not talking about buying things in debt so that you can feel successful. It is usually much smaller and much more subtle. It is about using small things to signal to yourself and others that you are becoming the person that can achieve your PowerGoal?. Always remember that you are responsible and that you are in control. You have more control over changing those things in the physical than you think, and if you cannot change those things, you can always change your thoughts and feelings about them.

Designing your physical environment often involves getting rid of things rather than acquiring things. It is great to enjoy the things in your life – the houses, cars, boats, helicopters, and clothes. But always make sure that you have them and that they do not have you.

Workbook Q6.9: How can you set up your physical environment for success?

Nature.

The eighth environment is nature. It includes the natural world, its beauty, and seasons. I get immense energy from nature. The moment I am in nature, I am a different person. I immediately relaxed. I can just be. It fills me up on many different levels.

For that reason, my wife and I love to camp. We have a camping vehicle with solar panels that allow us to be totally off the grid. From where we currently stay in Pretoria, South Africa, we can go on trips to many wonderful and beautiful nature sites in our country and neighboring countries. We often stay in these remote places a couple of weeks at a time. It is where we charge and from where we get our energy. We love the silence and the sounds of nature. We love the smells and the atmosphere.

I do not only spend time in nature when I go camping. An aerial photo of my house shows that our house is surrounded by green trees and bushes. I have set up my home and my office to be as close to nature as possible. Even though we live in a city, we bought a piece of property large enough that you cannot hear the sounds of the street at our house.

We planted trees and keep a large garden. I have some of my best ideas walking around outside on our property.

A few years ago, I bought my wife a game farm for her birthday. We set up our Wealth Creators University campus on it, and I presented many courses there for years. It was only about a two-hour drive from our home, so we could go there at any time to experience nature on a completely different level. I also knew that putting my students in that environment allowed them to have powerful transformational experiences. Being so close to nature soothed their souls and caused their minds to calm down so that they could experience breakthroughs.

Your relationship with nature will look different than mine. I am not saying you should have a large garden or buy a game farm. When circumstances change, we sold our game farm. As much as we loved it, we needed to transform again. It was no longer aligned with our journey. We let it go with happy hearts and much gratefulness for what it meant to us.

What I can tell you is that your life will be poorer if you do not incorporate elements of nature into it. For you, it might be to take time to go to the beach if you live close to it. Or you might choose a route to work that takes you along lanes of beautiful trees in bloom during spring. Or you might choose to live somewhere close to a park so that it is easy to get away from the concrete world of your daily life.

Choose those things which will add energy to your life.

Workbook Q6.10: Is nature adding energy to your life?

Do the exercises in the PowerGoal? Workbook.

Technology.

The ninth environment is technology. This environment also includes electronics, virtual spaces, software, hardware, and networks. Electronics refer to computers, tablets, phones, music players, televisions, game consoles, and GPS systems. Virtual networks include social networks, video conferences, and online networking.

I added this environment to Thomas Leonard’s nine environments because of the profound and ever-increasing impact that technology has on all of us and the other environments. We build and maintain relationships and networks via technology. We bank online rather than in person. Our businesses run on the internet. Even our physical environment is arranged according to elements of technology. Your desk has a computer on it, and your living room has a television, all of it connected to the internet, even some kitchen appliances these days.

Technology is an enabler, but it can also be a stumbling block. We have gotten to the point that if our technological systems do not work, we cannot be productive. Yesterday when I sat down to work, we had some major problems with our electricity, internet and office network. In the end, irrespective of those challenges, we got done what we set out to do that day. But it impacts other areas of life.

Technology can also be a distraction. Technology is wonderful, but we can mindlessly give away much of our time to it. Do you know how much time you spend on social media, watching online videos, or playing games per day? How does it add up per week, especially if you take weekends into consideration? I deserve some entertainment, you might be telling yourself. But are you consciously assigning time to it, or are you mindlessly losing yourself in it? What else could you have spent that time on – your business, your loved ones, your spirituality, or knowing and developing yourself?

Looking at screens too much is also not good for your physical health. Your posture is compromised by sitting at a desk typing for too long periods or looking down at your phone in your hands all the time. Your sleep is affected by the blue light that emits from most screens.

Technology is great. It has propelled my life and my businesses forward momentously. We have endless possibilities in our day and age that previous generations did not have all thanks to technology. But technology is what you make of it. It can be a powerful tool in your hand that brings you closer to your PowerGoal?, or it can keep you from ever reaching it. Be conscious of what it is in your life, and make the necessary adjustments to ensure that it is propelling you forward instead of holding you back.

Workbook Q6.11: Is technology propelling you forward or holding you back?

Body.

The tenth environment in the body. This environment includes your body, hair, nails, skin, health, and, the most important part, your energy levels.

Your physical energy depends on the nutrition that you give your body, in other words, what you put into the body. It is therefore very important that you look at what you eat. What is the energetic value of what you eat and drink? Like with everything else, what you consume either adds energy to you or takes energy from you. We put many things into our bodies simply because it is part of our society and because it feels good. But what feels good is not necessarily good for you.

For many years now, I have not been consuming any sugar. It might be a very drastic step for some people, but, for me, it was clear that sugar does not add any substantial energy to my life, and it takes a lot from me. So I stopped taking it completely.

I recently did an experiment and stopped drinking coffee too. I am not a coffee connoisseur, so I do not drink my coffee very strongly. But I like to have a few cups a day. I heard that coffee’s effect on certain parts of the brain can negatively influence certain meditation practices. Because I am working on my meditation, I decided to test it. For a few weeks, I gave up coffee completely. However, I did not experience any benefits to my meditation, so I started drinking coffee again after a few weeks. For you, giving up coffee might have many benefits. For me, it did not. But I felt great knowing that coffee does not have any hold on me. I can let it go if it serves me.

One of my mentoring students this past year decided to give up alcohol. He was not an alcoholic, but he felt that all his social interactions were always based on alcohol, and he wanted to change that. He experienced a very positive effect on his physical body. Even though he had been exercising regularly and eating well, he battled to lose about 10kg, which he felt would put him in a healthier bracket. When he gave up alcohol, he lost that weight without even trying. He was very chuffed with himself. The whole exercise gave him much more confidence in his abilities, which had a very positive effect on his PowerGoal? of becoming financially free through property investment. After a while, he started drinking alcohol again on occasion. But like me with sugar, it was not hard for him to say no to alcohol knowing how much better his body does without it.

I am not saying you should give up sugar, coffee, or alcohol. I am saying you should be aware of the effect of whatever you put into your body.

You are not your body. Many people fixate on their body because they find their identity in what their body looks like. Other people feel trapped in a body that they do not like. Your body is not you. It is something that you have. Therefore, you can design it.

The same applies to your brain. It is part of your body, and you can design it. Many people think that they are their brains. They think so because their brains and their bodies dictate what they feel and how they react. They have been given control over their body, which includes the brain. But you are not your brain, and you are not your body. It is an environment. The real you is a spiritual being. You are energy. Your brain and your body are physical manifestations of your spiritual energy.

I go into more detail on the brain and the body and how they work in Chapter 9. However, if you have ever meditated, or even just spent time reflecting, you would have experienced what I am describing here. In that state, you are on a spiritual plane. In that state of meditation or deep reflection, you can observe your brain and your body. You can observe that you are feeling and thinking certain things. You can feel certain sensations in your body.

You are not those thoughts, feelings, and sensations. You are spiritual energy observing those things. Those things are manifestations of you, and you can take up control and change them. You can control your brain, and you can control your body. You can decide whether you are going to eat a piece of cake or not. You are in control. You can also choose whether you are going to feel sad or whether you are going to feel happy. You are in control. Controlling your brain and your body is a skill we do not often learn much about. Because it is a skill, you learn it, and you become better at it. It is one of the reasons why I like to meditate. It helps me to grow this skill.

However you decide to do it, remember that you are in charge of your body. And the good news about that is that you can design your body the way you want it to be.

Workbook Q6.12: What body are you creating?

Where you are.

Now that you know more about each of the environments, your assignment is to apply this knowledge to your life. If you need to, review the environments, and even memorize them. For your transformational journey, you need to become aware of where you are. The ten environments give you a framework to plot where you are at the moment. It gives you a way to know where to start this transformation.

You need to identify what is positive and what is negative in each environment. You need to take responsibility for the fact that you are in control of all of it and that you are able to change it. If you have not done the exercises for each environment, go back and do them now.

The exercises ask you to identify changes and implement them. If you are feeling overwhelmed by all of it, identify one to three environments where change is needed the most or where change will have the biggest impact on your PowerGoal?. You cannot neglect any of the environments forever, or it will cost you in the long run. However, it helps to focus on one to three of them at a time.

Go through the exercises of those three environments again. From the exercises, choose one to three actions that will have the highest impact on you and your PowerGoal?. They could all be from the same environment or from three different environments. Some of them might be once-off actions. Do them immediately. Once you have done them, identify one to three actions that you need to repeat to see the necessary results. In other words, you need to create a new habit. As you read the next chapter about Perfect Days, set up your own 91 Perfect Day Challenge around those habits. Do them each day for the next 91 days. If you do it, your life will change.

Workbook Q6.13: Prioritise your actions.

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