If I am surrounded by people who don’t even have the discipline to manage their own time, their relationship with food, screens, movement, etc., my bare minimum can start to look extraordinary.

And that can be dangerous.

Because when everyone around you is doing very little, doing a little more can make you feel like you’re doing a lot.

You work out twice a week, and suddenly you’re “the fit one.”

You read a few pages, and you’re “the intellectual.”

You wake up a little earlier, and you feel like you’ve mastered your life.

There’s nothing wrong with any of these things.

But ask yourself:

Are these actually big achievements, or do they simply look big because of the environment you’re comparing them to?

If you genuinely want to grow, you need people around you who expand your idea of what is possible.

People who exercise consistently.

People who build businesses.

People who learn new skills.

People who take care of their bodies.

People who read, create, travel, explore, save, invest, build relationships, raise wonderful children, and still make time to experience life.

Not because you need to compete with them.

Because their existence expands your imagination. You now have bigger goals to set.

I’ve noticed this in my own life.

The more I expose myself to people who are doing remarkable things, the less satisfied I become with my own excuses. Not in a shame-filled way, but because I can see that the human body and mind are capable of far more than we often believe.

That distinction matters.

You don't need to feel bad about where you are.

But you also shouldn't let your current environment convince you that you've reached your potential.

And if you don't have people like this physically around you?

Curate your social media feed to your advantage.

When I open Instagram or Facebook, my feed shows me women in their 30s and 40s building their bodies, challenging themselves, running marathons, doing calisthenics, and building businesses.

And we know that achieving these milestones takes discipline and grit. It means going beyond the challenges life throws at you.

These women have a choice: sit and complain about it OR DO something about it.

And that’s what I get to learn from them.

So now I “know” people who are learning things at 50. People starting businesses at 60. People going back to school. People creating families differently.

People refusing to accept “this is just how life is.”

Because your environment doesn't just influence your behavior.

It influences what you believe is normal.

And what you believe is normal quietly becomes what you expect from yourself.