are we products of our environment or products of our expectations?

This is an awesome question that requires critical thinking and personal reflection. Right away my gut feeling led me to answer that we are products of our environment. I say this because I think our expectations revolve around our environment. Put it this way, a baby is born with multiple diseases because the parents are both drug/alcohol addicts. That child's whole life is now a product of his/her environment because of who he/she was birthed by. On the other hand, LeBron James’ first son, Bronny James, is a projected first round NBA draft pick. His environment is being surrounded by his Dad, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. It is expected of Bronny to be a great NBA player because of his environment (LeBron). 

My own life and the experiences I have had also contribute to my answer. Both of my parents joined the military out of high school. My dad was also a cop and was/still is a volunteer firefighter as am I. A lot of people talk about how great of a leader my dad was/is. My mom has been a 5th grade math/religion teacher at the middle school I went to, and if you ask any kid who their favorite teacher was at St. Joe’s, they will say Mrs Armstrong. It is fair to say I was surrounded by a pretty darn good environment. I would say my environment helped me to turn out pretty well. I joined the military after one year in college, and joined the fire department during my senior year of high school to join my father. While a lot of my friends are out partying, living their best lives, I work full time at the military base I am assigned to, volunteer for my community with the fire department, and still stay in school online as a full time student. I give credit to everything I have accomplished/continue to accomplish to my environment (my parents/family). 

I think being a product of expectations can be detrimental to one's success in life. Think about it, if you expect yourself to be a millionaire, chances are you could end up disappointing yourself. If your parents expect you to be an MLB player because you went 5-5 in your first tee ball game, chances are they will be disappointed. My advice would be to never expect anything in life, go forth in life surrounding yourself with good people with ambitions the same as yours, and you will do things in life you would have never expected. 

A good example I would use is a sports one since I am a sports geek. The term “draft bust” comes from a player who is drafted early in the draft with huge expectations. “Draft steal” is a term used to describe someone drafted very late and turns out to be an amazing player. When you are drafted number 1, it means you are drafted to the worst team from the year before. What does this mean? You are probably not surrounded by the best environment (not the best team/roster). What does being a steal mean? You are drafted to a great environment (really good team/roster). Your success can depend greatly on who/what you are surrounded by. Your success will not depend on what was/is expected of you, rather you will be expected to succeed quick, fast, and in a hurry because of what outsider people expect of you. Brock Purdy played in the Super Bowl a couple  months ago as the QB for the 49ers. He was the last overall draft pick a couple years ago. He is surrounded by a tremendous team and that plays a huge role in Brock’s success and the 49ers success as a team. Trey Lance was a QB the 49ers drafted before Brock Purdy and they traded 3 future first round draft picks to get Lance. This put a huge expectation on Lance to come in and play great right away. He did not, and was traded years later because he “failed to meet expectations.” 

We are products of our environment because as long we surround ourselves with trusted people who want the best for us just as much as themselves, we will exceed all expectations possible. The possibilities are endless with a great environment.