Yesterday’s post discussed the importance of getting to know yourself. The 16 Personalities test can help a lot in this noble quest. 

This self-knowledge is critical for intelligent environment design. It lets us construct environments that capitalize on our natural strengths and nullify our natural weaknesses. 

The optimal environment will be unique for every person. Shaping yours will become much easier if you answer two questions.

When do I naturally experience the Great Five positive emotions?

Simply put: if you can put yourself in an environment where Inspiration, Altruism, Flow, Tolerance and Excitement come to you naturally, your life will be awesome. 

But be careful of false positives. For example, it’s easy to get some short-lived bouts of excitement that fizzle out at the first sign of difficulty. 

So, think hard now. When do these emotions come to you? What are you doing at the time? Who are you with?

And most importantly: what can you do the ensure that you place yourself in that environment on a regular basis?

When do I succumb to the Big Five primitive emotions?

Now, let’s go through the same exercise, only from the negative side. 

What causes you to self-destruct by succumbing to Craving, become totally inhibited by Ego, get deactivated by Sloth, carry around loads of unresolved Frustration, and Worry about things you have no control over?

How are these feelings triggered? What (or who) is the root cause?

And most importantly: what can you do to rid your environment of these triggers?

Sometimes, shaping the right environment for you will take several years of strategic planning and patient implementation. But it all starts with a single conscious decision.

So, spend some time to form a good idea of what your unique ideal environment will look like. Then draw up a rough plan and start to patiently turn it into reality, one step at a time. 

If you’ve started making steady progress towards your ideal environment, controlling your primitive emotions becomes possible. This noble quest to tame the Big Five will be tomorrow’s topic. 

See you then!