FUEL THE FIRE

The number one contributor to your success. The thing that fuels curiosity and destroys dreams. An environment can make you feel driven, determined and somewhat invincible, where another can leave you feeling exhausted, uninspired, even sick.

Years ago, I had it sorted - I'd opened my first CrossFit Affiliate. The gear was new, the space was clean, I had the perfect training partner, with unlimited time to focus on ourselves. I had no bills and no real commitments. I was free to chase my dreams. But hidden away amongst all of that, was a business relationship that would eventually become toxic. To a point that I'd choose rest days over being in the same space as my business partner. I'd lost drive, I felt defeated and I lacked the experience and knowledge to know what to do, we both did.

People are the first piece of any environment. It doesn't matter if you're wired to thrive off a crowd or if you'd rather keep your head down and get the work done, everybody needs connection at some point. Connection is fundamental to human nature. Being with people who serve you or with people who drain you has immediate and long term effects on you, both mentally and physically.

In 2016 things changed. My business partner and I had gone our separate ways, and I'd set up a new location. Everything was the same, but different. It was still the same gym, same Rig, same bumper plates, and the same black mats. But the space felt open. It felt safe, and real. It was set up how I wanted, how I'd dreamed of. I was excited.

Space works on you whether you realise it or not. Light lifts you. Colour changes your mood. Factors you aren't even aware of impact you everyday. You can't out-motivate a room that makes you feel smaller the moment you walk into it, but your entire being can lift in a space that picks you up.

Do you wake up looking forward to the session, or negotiating with yourself about whether you'll go? That answer alone told me more about my environment than anything else.

And reflection…

How did that make me feel?

Most people never actually ask themselves that question. They just absorb the answer and move on with their day, a little heavier or a little lighter, without ever sitting with it. I started asking more and more. Some days the answer was tired but good. Some days it was flat, and worth paying attention to. But I was asking, and asking itself made a difference. You can't fix an environment you've never honestly reflected on.

Somewhere in all of this sits another question, the one that decides how you enter the environment. Does being here contribute to the success of my goal? Is this part of the journey, or is this just where I happen to be standing? A motivating environment doesn't need to be loud or exciting. It needs to be aligned. Every rep, every early morning, every uncomfortable conversation, either moves you closer to your goal, or it doesn't.

And last, the one people forget to look for. Curiosity.

Is there something new here? Am I fueling a desire to learn and grow, or am I just repeating last week because it's easier than being uncomfortable. Curiosity doesn't survive in a room that's stopped being curious about you.

People. Space. Memory. Anticipation. Reflection. Purpose. Curiosity. None of these show up on a spreadsheet, and none of them show up on the whiteboard in class. But add them up and they decide almost everything, whether you sprint toward the door in the morning or drag yourself through it, whether a hard session breaks you down or builds you up, whether you stay for years or quietly disappear after a few months.

Nobody can decide for you.

You get to choose your environment. Not once. But every single day. Every gym you walk into, every person you train beside, every room you let shape how you feel.

Ask yourself…

Are you fuelling your fire, or slowly putting it out?