What If The Environment Is The Enemy?
Issue 017 | On The Environmental Forcing Function
MINDSET NATION
Crusaders and Campaigners, The day is strange and full of horrors, From the cabin of Matilda, I bid you install a new MINDSET
“You didn’t convince any of them to change. You didn’t win the argument. You bought a plane ticket!” - Journal entry;
Creator Captain The Isaac Lester
There is a question that separates years of spinning from months of progress.
Most people never ask it. They assume. They blame. They defend. They rationalize. They stay stuck in loops that could be broken with a single honest answer.
The question is this:
Is the problem ME, or is the problem the CONTAINER I’m in?
Get this wrong, and you will spend years as quickly as seconds pass.
Blame yourself when the environment is toxic, and you’ll grind yourself to dust trying to fix what was never yours to fix. Blame the environment when YOU are the dysfunction, and you’ll carry your poison into every new container until you’ve burned through them all.
Get this right, and extraction becomes surgical. Clean. Effective.
Today we learn to diagnose. And then we learn to move.
I. Situation Report
My friends, it is Tuesday, December 23rd, in the year of our shared crisis before the comeback, 2025. Good day to you.
I bring you Morning Thunder.
Yesterday we established the philosophical frame. Campaign Protocol for the HOW. Map of Meaning for the WHY. You named your territory. You drafted your map. You identified what stays while everything else burns.
Today we draw blades and prepare to begin the cuts.
But before we sever, we must diagnose. Because the wrong diagnosis leads to the wrong surgery. And the wrong surgery leaves you bleeding out wondering why the operation didn’t work.
Follow me, there is a hint of method to the madness...
Two frameworks. One diagnostic. One logistical.
The Environmental Forcing Function teaches you to identify whether extraction is the answer.
Rapid Logistics Protocol teaches you what to do once you’ve extracted.
Together, they prevent the two cardinal sins of transformation: staying too long in the wrong container, and carrying your dysfunction into the next one.
Brothers, I ask again: Are you with me?
Accept my offering. I bring you tools for your travels...
II. Frameworks for Chaos | Extraction
Framework 10: The Environmental Forcing Function
I would have you keep this Core Principle in mind:
When persuasion fails, change the terrain. The move itself forces new identity to emerge.
Now hear this:
A domesticated pig remains a pig. Two months in the wild, and the body releases specific stress hormones that activate dormant programming. The Boar emerges. The pig’s environment changed, and thus forced transformation which was before unnatural to it.
Take the concept and wear it with me for a moment:
Who are you today? Is this you, the real you?
Or is your personality,
are your habits,
does your
worldview
revolve more around a
constructed persona
worn to
survive the day
than you would care to level with?There are two types of stuck.
Type One:
You are the problem in a functional environment.
The container is fine. The people are reasonable. The systems work for others. But you’re drowning, not because the water is poison, but because you’ve not yet learned to swim, and can’t, or won’t do The Work that is required.
In this case, extraction is escape. You’ll carry the dysfunction with you. The next container will fail the same way, and the next, until you run out of containers or finally face the mirror.
My Friends…
You’re either contributing to shared progress through reciprocal exchange, or you’re a parasite forcing others to work harder just to compensate for your drag.
Go where you fit or can be made to fit. Go where you are honored, not tolerated. Go where you are capable or can learn to become capable. Know when your efforts are inadequate for the mission at hand.
Type Two:
You are functional, but the environment is toxic.
The container is poisoned. The people are unreasonable, incompetent, or actively hostile. The systems are designed to fail, or designed to benefit someone other than you. You’re drowning not because you can’t swim... but because someone is holding your head underwater.
In this case, extraction is liberation. The new container allows suppressed capabilities to finally emerge.
You’re either a healthy red blood cell in a thriving body working toward collective vitality, or you’re forced to become a white blood cell fighting infection in a dying host.
Do not fight battles you know you cannot win. Excuse yourself from the field and go elsewhere. Archers belong on hills, not on plains, standing before infantry.
The Diagnostic Protocol:
First:
Ask honestly:
Do others thrive here while I struggle?
Do they advance while I stagnate?
Do they find energy where I find exhaustion?
If yes, the problem may be you. Examine yourself with ruthless honesty before extracting.Next:
Ask honestly:
Do I thrive elsewhere but struggle here specifically?
Have I succeeded in previous environments with similar demands?
Do my capabilities emerge in other contexts but die here?
If yes, the problem may be the container. Begin preparing for extraction.Then:
Ask honestly:
Have I tried everything within my control to improve my fit?
Have I adapted my approach, sought feedback, developed new skills?
Have I given this environment a genuine, sustained effort?
If yes and still struggling, extraction is likely the answer regardless of diagnosis.Finally:
Ask the hardest question: Am I telling myself a story that protects my ego? Am I blaming the environment to avoid facing my own inadequacies? Am I absolving myself of responsibility because accountability is uncomfortable? Blaming the environment is comfortable. Taking responsibility is not. Make sure your diagnosis serves truth, not comfort.
The Lived Proof | A Testimony
I have been both types of stuck. Allow me to show you the difference.
Type One:
I Was The Problem
I joined the Marine Corps at seventeen with no idea what I was missing, but absolute certainty that the Corps would give me the opportunity to earn it. I thought of it like a top-tier replacement program for the skills that father should have passed down before running off.
I was eager. I worked hard.
Then I got to my first duty station.
The gear was totally different than what I’d trained on. The social hierarchy was nothing like what I expected, let alone what I needed to thrive.
I started drowning. Literally. I struggled during physical fitness sessions, nearly drowning on more than a few occasions in the pool.
(solar orbit 18 happened @MCRD-SD)
Imagine living your entire eighteen years being told you’re special, not believing it, and having it confirmed while in a special unit.
The leadership I encountered was beyond the interest of taming a young and reckless Lance Corporal.
I was allowed to fall on my own sword.
Repeatedly.
Sent to formal school to learn the new gear.
Failed miserably. The freedom was too much. I needed restraint and control.
The lax culture was perfect for well-adjusted and responsible Marines.
I was not well-adjusted or responsible.
I was the problem, in an amazing environment, surrounded by highly competent people who worked well as a team without me.
Eventually I found my exit and transferred to a “normal” collection of Uncle Samuel’s Misguided Children, where things were much better for my development and my effect on the Corps overall.
Type Two:
The Environment Was the Problem
Fast forward.
I’m in disagreement with family about how to move several complex emergency situations forward. I presented solutions. Each was shot down with no effort to resolve from other parties involved.
The environment was poor. I was surrounded by highly incompetent and apathetic individuals. I was not the problem.
But I needed to be removed from the environment nonetheless.
“You didn’t convince any of them to change.
You didn’t win the argument.
You bought a gorydamn plane ticket.”
Chicago → California → Chicago → North Carolina → … → Matilda.
Each move forced a new identity to emerge.
The Pattern Recognized:
Same solution. Different diagnosis.
In the Marine Corps, I extracted because I was the problem and needed an environment that would force me to grow. In the family situation, I extracted because the container was the problem and no amount of my growth would fix their dysfunction.
Both required extraction. Both were correct. The diagnosis determined what I carried forward and what I left behind.
For the days that follow in your own life, I present you these Frameworks, they will work in tandem to assist you along your way.
Framework 8: Rapid Logistics Protocol
I would have you keep this Core Principle in mind:
Extract lessons, apply them to the next arena.
Extraction is not the end. It’s the transition.
What you do in the hours and days after extraction determines whether you’ve actually escaped or just relocated your prison.
The Protocol is simple to execute:
One.
Take Immediate action after decision.
The moment extraction is decided, movement begins. Not tomorrow. Not after you’ve processed. Now.
La Sirena failed. Engine didn’t work. I donated that boat and was in the next location the same week. Dwelling would have killed momentum. Movement kept me alive.
Two.
Document what worked and what failed.
Before the lessons fade, capture them. What did you do right? What did you do wrong? What would you do differently?
The lesson isn’t “boats are bad.” The lesson is “check the engine before buying.”
Three.
Apply learning to next location.
Every extraction is tuition. If you don’t apply the lessons, you paid for nothing. Carry the wisdom forward. Leave the wounds behind.
Four.
Never dwell on what is now Gone.
Grief has its place. But extended mourning of environments, relationships, or identities that needed to die will anchor you to a past that no longer serves.
Extract the lesson. Honor what was. Move.
III. Campaign Orders
Today is diagnostic and decisive.
The Assignment is a hands on activity:
One.
Identify your current environments.
List them.
Job. City. Living situation. Primary relationships. Social circles. Daily environments.
Two.
For each location where you spend significant time, answer the diagnostic question.
Am I the problem, or is the space? Be honest. We’re all progress seekers here; ego protection has no home among the broken, who now build
Three.
For any container diagnosed as toxic, answer:
What would extraction look like? Not commitment to extract. Just clarity on what the move would require.
Four.
For any container where YOU are the problem, answer:
What specific changes would I need to make to thrive here? Is this environment capable of supporting my growth if I do the work?
IV. Bear Witness/Practice Piously
You will not force the horse to drink water,
no matter how obviously dehydrated it knows it is.
You will not change the worldviews, perspectives, and core programming of another human being if they are not receptive to change. If they are not aware that there even is a problem to begin with.
I learned this in basements and living rooms and across state lines.
The arguments I won changed nothing. The arguments I lost changed nothing. The plane ticket changed everything.
Now I am grateful beyond words to say that I have crafted a life that allows me to connect with like-minded individuals and build together. To breathe life into our ideas and move ourselves closer to our goals.
This was not possible in the old environments not because I didn’t try but because the spaces themselves made growth impossible.
Basement-Isaac couldn’t exist on this boat. The environment made the old identity impossible to maintain. The water. The solitude. The physical demands. The daily proof that I could handle what I once feared.
Matilda alone didn’t fix me, she made me fixing myself possible.
In this, is the true power of the Environmental Forcing Function. You’re not waiting to become someone new before you move. You move, you execute, you act as a doer, and the movement forces ”The Becoming”.
Use your Free Will. Take Advantage of your Agency. All you have within you is all you need to create radical change in your life.
I would have you live comfortably in the seat of your highest potential while riding true and holding firm to the Golden Groove. Whatever standards, guidelines, values, beliefs, or identity systems you’ve adopted, assisting you in facing the day and emerging victorious.
Bless your environment, and it will bless you in return.
The lessons you extract from the experience will become markers for your Map of Meaning.
It’s all connected.
V. Transmission End..
Two types of stuck. One solution. Different diagnoses.
If you are the problem, extraction buys you a fresh start to do the work you’ve been avoiding. If the container is the problem, extraction liberates capabilities that were being suppressed.
Either way, the move forces change. Either way, the old identity becomes impossible to maintain.
Don’t negotiate with prison walls. Move.
Tomorrow we continue Extraction. The 48-Hour Escape Assessment. Speed as sword against fear, words as weapons against chaos. The clock that forces action before paralysis sets in.
But today, diagnose. Identify your containers. Answer honestly which ones are toxic and which ones are revealing your own dysfunction.
The answer determines everything that comes next.
Ave, Lector Carissime! Hail, My Favorite Reader...
Go now, and
Take No Quarter.
I am Building A Cult of Builders, To Topple The Motivational Industrial Complex…
You are now on Campaign, to face the chaos of the modern day, To Crusade across your very mind, routing out the pity and disgust and the anguish of apathy. I bid you RISE with The Morning Thunder, And install a new MINDSET Operating System. For personal excellence... For your future… You are a MINDSET Legionnaire. Chest Out, Chin High. Act like it. Focus! I offer you tools for your travels
Patience with your persistence, my friend. Progress will come. Lux Ex Tenebris | Light From Darkness Per Aspera Ad Astra Through Hardships to The Gorydamn Stars - Isaac & Bobert, via Matilda, on Campaign
