“Yeah… that proposal is going to drop over the weekend. Can you help?” 

“I worked until 11:15PM last night…” 

“My metric goals are 90% and I’m at 95%.”

Welcome to DC. I would say it breeds politicians and geniuses, but in reality, it breeds competition and workaholics. But also – the feeling that you’d like to achieve something great while inhabiting the city limits. 

_______

I walked onto Harvard’s campus about a year ago. It was a chilly, snowy, March afternoon, and everyone I spoke to had a mission. They wanted to change the world. And they knew how they were going to do it. 

How often do we get pushed out of our zones of comfort into a pool of people who have this mindset? Or, better yet, what are the people like that you surround yourself with on the daily? What mindset do they have? 

When I was at Harvard I got the itch to do something great and to follow those deep-seated dreams I kept on the back shelf of my heart. How often was I ignited like this? Rarely ever. 

_________

There are places, locations, people, that we surround ourselves in that shape us. And in some cases they can actually change the fabric of who we are. Before I moved to DC and before I got my somewhat prestigious first job out of college, I was, by definition, a mediocre student. I never really strived for greatness. I didn’t really know what I wanted. When I got my job, I finally was pushed out of a zone to actually go above and beyond. The job I got had certain standards that I needed to meet, and I had to work hard to get there. And it literally changed who I am. I became more goal-oriented. If you told me that I had to jump 3 hoops to get to point Z, I’d jump all three at once. If you told me I couldn’t do something, or something was “too hard” for me to accomplish, I’d do it for the sheer fact of being able to say I achieved it. I turned from a playful, spontaneous individual to an ambitious achiever who would stop at nothing to get what I wanted. 

A lot of these, let’s call them circumstantial changes, were good. I needed a push to be better, and living and working in DC fosters the opposite of mediocrity. But there are parts of me that wish I slowed down and was less high strung than the self I currently am. If I miss a day of waking up before 7, I shouldn’t beat myself up over it. It’s not about showing people up, it’s about showing yourself the core of who you are and being true to that. Self awareness. 

I’m aware that my surroundings have shaped who I am and changed who I am. And I think everyone should take a step back and ask themselves “have mine?” 

Like W. Clement Stone says, “We are a product of our environment.” What environment have you placed yourself in? Do you like it? And if not, what are you gonna do about it?