The title of this one is admittedly and intentionally vague because I think its the right boundary to consider to derive a lot of insights from. Great books and people have already used this boundary - like the circle of influence concept from Highly Effective Habits (link book), the Bhagvad Gita when it talks about “karmanyavadi karaste ma phaleshu kada chana” which is essentially the same concept but more so in a mythical context.

“Surrounding yourself with high quality, functional products helps imbibe those values in you*”

This is a statement where I might get some disagreements but hear me out. This thought arose to me after I reflected on my decisions around owning a bike in Amsterdam. Long story short - I went for very sub optimal and cheap option and without much research and thought. I probably spent a lot of mental energy on this issue which could have been better used.

I realized that this commuter bike is something I ride almost everyday for about 20/30 minutes (Welcome to Amsterdam) and how this bike functions has direct effect on me. Bad products would irritate me and literally piss me off - No matter how saintly I try to be and not let the surroundings affect me - It always got to me to some level.

The difference was stark when I switched to a high functioning product - I took inspiration from the product and admired how it was designed to meet the needs. Case in point - Swapfiets basic edition (the mid tier is horrible) The bike runs very smoothly, bike lights are fixed you never have to worry about being fined again and the service for the bike is free on a day’s appointment. This also goes to show that sometimes not always are high functioning products super expensive, although in my experience they usually are.

Some other products which I’ve really liked using lately which inspire me to be better are - Theragun mini.