Three key external sources can influence our attitudes: media, other people, and the environment.

We get in life what we most think about. Our minds are designed to prioritize awareness of danger. The media announces bad news around the clock, which puts us in a constant state of alarm. In listening to news reports, our minds are like drinking glasses: “You put in sensational news, salacious headlines, talk-show rants, and you’re pouring dirty water into your glass” (119). This distorts our view of the world and dampens our creativity.

Instead, people should flush out their minds with the clean water of “[p]ositive, inspirational, and supportive input and ideas” (120). We can limit our exposure to angry social media, skip past the frantic ads, and refrain from watching the mental junk food on TV. Most people watch two months’ worth of television every year.

Hardy curates his news feeds so they only report news of specific interest to him. He also uses commuting time to listen to instructional audio—which, in the course of a year, is equal to two semesters’ worth of college lectures.

Secondly, our social “reference group,” the people we spend a lot of time with, determines much of our success.