From Stuck to Thriving: Optimising Your Conditions

Creating Aliveness: The Role of Conditions

In my last blog, I explored Baseline, the steady foundation of aliveness. It’s your default state—physical, mental, and emotional—that sets the tone for how you engage with life. Strengthening your baseline through recovery, stability, and mindset creates the foundation for aliveness to thrive.

I hope these ideas have resonated with you and sparked changes in how you approach your daily rhythms. If you’ve started exploring your own baseline, I’d love to hear your stories or feedback—please share them in the comments below.

Now, let’s move forward to the next piece of the aliveness formula: A = B × C × D². C (Conditions) represents the external factors surrounding you: your environment, social connections, and life events. It’s natural to think these are the most important elements in shaping how alive we feel. After all, your circumstances can either make things easier or harder, right?

But here’s the truth: while your conditions matter, their impact on your sense of aliveness is far less critical than it might seem.

Why Conditions Aren’t Everything

There’s a psychological phenomenon called hedonic adaptation that explains this. Essentially, humans have an incredible ability to adjust to changes in their circumstances, whether positive or negative.

Think about it: moving to a dream home or landing a perfect job might feel life-changing at first. But after a while, the excitement fades, and you settle back into your new normal. On the flip side, even difficult challenges—like health issues or setbacks—often lose their sting as you adapt to them.

This doesn’t mean your conditions don’t matter. But it highlights something far more important: it’s not just what’s happening around you that shapes your aliveness—it’s how you respond to it.

Agency Over Victimhood

It’s easy to feel stuck when you’re in tough conditions. You might think, This relationship isn’t working, I can’t change my job, my health limits me. It’s tempting to fall into a victim mindset, letting your circumstances dictate your experience.

But here’s the thing: you have more agency than you might believe.

I’m not saying you can always change your circumstances, but you can decide how you interact with them. You can accept your conditions for what they are without letting them define you. Instead of focusing on what you can’t control, ask yourself: What can I do to optimize these conditions? How can I shift the focus to what’s possible?

Optimizing Conditions: My Zwift Story

Let me share an example from my own life. As a parent, I often spend evenings at home with my kids, which means joining a traditional in-person cycling club isn’t practical. Most of my workouts happen on an indoor trainer in the basement—a bit lonely and uninspiring, as you might imagine.

I tried organizing rides with close friends when schedules aligned, but it wasn’t consistent. So, I shifted my approach. I joined an online cycling club through Zwift. Week after week, I showed up for group rides, got to know a few people, and started engaging in group chats during rides.

Now, I’m part of a virtual group filled with encouragement, shared challenges, and constant support. We even race together—for fun, not competition—which is exactly the kind of group I wanted.

What started as a solution to a lonely workout evolved into something much bigger. I found myself part of a virtual community—one where we cheer each other on, share our goals, and even support each other through life’s challenges beyond cycling. It’s not just about the rides anymore; it’s about the relationships.

This experience reminded me how powerful it can be to take small steps toward optimizing your conditions. By focusing on what I could do—joining a virtual club—I turned a restriction into an opportunity for connection and growth.

How to Optimize Your Conditions

So, how can you do the same? Start by looking at the areas of your life where you feel restricted or stuck. Instead of focusing on the limitations, ask yourself: What’s possible here? How can I make this work for me?

Here are some ideas to get started:

     •           Spend more time with people who uplift and energize you.

     •           Seek out communities aligned with your interests—even if they’re online.

     •           Shift your physical environment to make it feel calmer or more inspiring.

Accept your conditions for what they are, but don’t let them dictate how alive you feel. You have more control than you think.

Looking Ahead

In the last two blogs, I’ve covered B (Baseline) and C (Conditions)—both essential parts of the aliveness formula. But neither is the real accelerator. That comes next: D (Decisions).

Decisions are where your mindset and actions come into play, turning potential into momentum. In my next post, I’ll dive into the power of decisions and how they amplify your sense of aliveness.

In the meantime, if you’d like to explore this in a more personal way, subscribe to stay connected or sign up for a free introductory session. Let’s work together 1-to-1 to accelerate your journey toward a more vibrant, alive version of you.