Ecosystem

I love the YouTube channel Casual Geographic. It brings that classic National Geographic curiosity back, but with a modern voice and flair.

One day, while watching one of his videos, I learned about the marine iguana from the Galápagos Islands. Most land-based iguanas evolved to feed on land vegetation, but in the Galápagos Islands it’s very scarce. Food was in the ocean and over time, that ecosystem forced the lizard to adapt if it wanted to feed. 

The marine iguana became the only living lizard that forages in the ocean for its primary food source. Its body adapted for that to happen. A flattened tail for swimming. Sharp claws for gripping volcanic rock. Specialized glands that sneeze out the sea salt it consumes while feeding. It can slow its heart rate, conserve oxygen, and stay underwater for up to an hour.

More than the animal’s behavior, the ecosystem changed the animal itself!

Your Environment Is Slowly Shaping You

The marine iguana’s body adapted to the world around it across millions of years. In our day to day human life, internal change happens way faster.

Your ecosystem will look different from mine. As creative professionals, our environments can look like an agency, an in-house role, or even a freelance setup. It’s the rhythm around us. The incentives. The feedback. The people. The rooms you find yourself in and the ones you’re kept out of.

And those environments shape behavior.

According to habit researchers Wendy Wood and Dennis Rünger of the University of Southern California, people tend to repeat behaviors tied to recurring environments, and over time those responses can become automatic. In plain language… the ecosystem trains the organism faster than we think.

That means the pressure around you is not neutral. It can shape how you think, communicate, create, and carry yourself. That’s all without even diving into the mental health impact those pressures are exerting on you.

The question is simple.

If your environment is slowly shaping you… do you like what you’re becoming?

What’s Your Ecosystem Rewarding?

Every ecosystem rewards something.

Some reward speed. Some, silence. Some, taking risk. Some reward originality. Some ecosystems reward obedience or endless availability. Some don’t care much for thoughtful work and reward shallow productivity.

If speaking up gets punished, you keep your mouth shut. If speed gets praised, you start rushing through work. If questioning something results in tension, you opt for compliance, even at the expense of your professional convictions. If being efficient matters more than being thoughtful, you slowly become a tool and surrender your voice.

Pay attention to what the environment is bringing out of you. Is it drawing out your better qualities and helping you grow? When you adapt to fit the environment, is that adaptation sharpening you or shrinking you as a professional? Are those challenges making you better? Do they allow you to discover your own voice, expand your thinking, and give you opportunity to move forward with purpose?

Choose What Shapes You

Some of us can’t control the ecosystem we’re in. We might not have the option of immediately exiting an environment that isn’t helping us get to where we wanna be. But even if necessity has you in a given system, you can pay attention to what it’s doing to you.

Some ecosystems gradually pull you away from your better self. When that happens, the answer isn’t always to fight harder. Sometimes the wiser move is to recognize what the environment is trying to shape you into and decide whether that shape still fits.

Your ecosystem is shaping you either way.

Make sure it is shaping someone you’re proud of.

Wanna chat about your ecosystem and what it’s doing to you? Reach out to me. I always respond.