​Read this on matthewdoan.com​

Read time: 3 minutes

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Through no fault of your own, your environment has conditioned you to believe that "this is the best I can do."

Nope. One simple shift can radically change everything. Read on.

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The Secret

You sit numbly in your ergonomic desk chair.

Your home office feels like a cubicle.

The PowerPoint blurs in front of your eyes as the minutes tick toward midnight.

This is your life now. The coveted corporate job you worked so tirelessly for.

Where did things go wrong?

In college, you imagined yourself thriving in a prestigious career. Wearing sharp suits, closing high-stakes deals, and jetting off to exotic locales for important conferences.

Your parents and professors praised you for your stellar grades and ambitious drive. They assured you that all your hard work would pay off with the perfect life.

And yet, here you are, capped and trapped in a Golden Cage. The money and status mean nothing when you're dead inside.

Your “boss” (a 3-headed monster) expects the impossible, piling on more work than any reasonable person could handle. Your colleagues undermine and sabotage, smiling to your face as they jockey for position.

At home, your relationship with your partner and kids suffers from chronic neglect. You barely recognize yourself in the mirror anymore — just a burnt-out shell going through the motions.

How did the environment that was supposed to lift you up end up crushing your spirit?

The truth is, you’ve been subtly shaped by outside forces your whole life.

From school to media influences to your well-meaning but misguided parents, you absorbed the message: Status and achievement are everything. Sacrifice your health, relationships, and passions in service of "success." Don't make waves. Conform to the system and you'll be rewarded.

So you dutifully followed the script, not realizing you were relinquishing control of your own life. The environment was programming you.

Now you find yourself trapped in a career that’s destroying you from the inside out. You don’t know how to break free. Your conditioning runs deep, whispering that you're not capable of anything else. If you just work harder, you can power through this…right?

But as Dr. Benjamin Hardy wrote, “willpower doesn’t work.”

And let’s be clear: YOU are the one saying “yes” to the environment (it’s not happening TO you).

Imagine having a fully equipped home gym, yet still struggling to get fit. You have all the tools at your disposal, but lack the external motivation and support to push yourself.

Now instead, imagine joining an elite training facility, surrounded by coaches and peers dedicated to mutual growth. The energy is electric, the competition friendly yet fierce. Everything is geared towards helping you maximize your potential.

In this uplifting environment, transformation becomes inevitable. The same is true for your career.

The jar cannot read its own label. You’ve spent so long inside this dysfunction that it seems inescapable.

But what if it didn't have to be this way? What if you dared to step outside the jar and author a new story?

That's when Brian decided to invest in himself. He hired coaches, joined masterminds, and custom-built a community of people who inspired him. While still physically sitting in his corporate office, he learned to detach emotionally. Instead of reactive panic, he approached his workdays with calm proactivity, while reclaiming his precious time and energy.

He made corporate the tool; he stopped being the tool.

Following his mentors' advice, Brian installed new rituals like:

• Journaling
• Grateful visioning
• 10,000 steps per day

He did the hard work to override decades of limiting programming. Gradually, his identity and approach to life transformed.

Bravely experimenting alongside peers in the same boat, he built an exciting side business that tapped into his natural superpowers. His “corporate offramp” is now established.

By changing his daily environment—the people, ideas, and behaviors flooding his mind—Brian reignited his spirit. Yes, there were hard conversations, moments of doubt, and tough choices along the way.

But he got the help and developed the courage to stop outsourcing control of his life. Instead, he remained connected to his dream.

Your environment makes you.

Willpower alone cannot overcome a toxic situation (one where you’re also a culprit). Now is the time to take back your power.

This means declining the “influence” of default environments and methodically investing to surround yourself with people, ideas, and behaviors that reflect the person you want to become.

When your environment changes, your trajectory shifts…quickly.

As the doors of your old world close, new worlds of possibility stand ready to welcome you.

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​PS - book a slot here if you need help.​

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Mind-Bender

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Podcast

​80: Invisible Progress

You want “real” results — proof that your professional or personal transformation efforts are working.

But sometimes, nothing appears to be happening. In this case, you must measure differently. You need to embrace the idea of Invisible Progress. Learn how in this episode!

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That’s it for today, my friend! I appreciate you.

—Matt

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