Our thoughts affect 100% of our lives. There is no doubt about it. And how do we renew our thoughts and thinking patterns? There are numerous ways in which we can do it.

The material we consume

The books we read, like the food we eat, nourishes our minds and thoughts. Changing a few books in our collection or library can greatly alter our mindsets.

I once heard of a man who became tormented by the things he read. They were not “evil" books, as you might want to describe them. They were just books that negated the pattern in which his life was supposed to follow, and they disabled his mind for a moment. Hearing about this man's experience taught me the value of taking in the right stuff — no unhealthy materials.

When I was growing up, I was keen on reading motivational help books by Brain Tracy, John C. Maxwell and a host of other world renowned authors. The ideas they shared changed my mindset.

We should ask ourselves questions when we think about the material that we constantly expose ourselves to.

Are the books we're reading motivating us to live right? We need to read books that inspire us to do right. If we were to read any book that encourages us to break the law in any form, that can only make us end up in jail. Why would we want to experience a life in prison? Avoiding books that encourage law-breaking is a start.

Are the books we are reading something we want others around us to see? Any book we need to hide from our kids, parents, or spouses is probably not good for us.

Are the books challenging the right notions? Any book that challenges the right notions is the wrong one. That's as simple as it can be.

The company we surround ourselves with

Apart from the books we decide to devour, the friends we choose to spend our time with can influence the kind of life we live.

Someone once said it this way, “If you see four idiotic people around you, check and count again. You probably didn't count correctly the first time. There are five idiotic people. You are the fifth one because you choose to surround yourself with said idiotic people.”

I quite agree. We can't successfully exempt ourselves from the status of the people we surround ourselves with. So if we want to change our lives, we must change our company!

We must also ask ourselves the difficult questions when we are considering the people who we spend the most time with.

"Is this friend having a positive impact on me?" In the most un-egotistical way possible, we quite simply do not need people who don't add anything positive and meaningful to our lives.

"Is this person motivating me to advance in my career?" Real friends want us to grow and win in life, and we should be around people who make us feel inspired to better ourselves personally and professionally.

"Is this person growing too?" People who value themselves invest in their growth. If the people we surround ourselves with don't value themselves, what makes us think they'll value us? It is imperative that the people we spend our time with first and foremost value themselves as human beings.

The environments we put ourselves in

It's easy to spot someone who grew up in a gang-infested environment, especially if they allow it to influence their every move. It is important for us to strive to constantly place ourselves in environments that are healthy and positive for our overall well-being.

We must particularly make sure we put our kids in the right environments because they're more vulnerable to the horrible effects that the wrong surroundings can have.

For instance, one doesn't throw a bird into the water and expect it to fly. No! That's not its ideal environment. It wasn't meant to swim. It was meant to fly — so throw it into the air rather than the pool.

You see, we all can live positively in the correct environment. This is not to downplay the fact that some nice kids still grow up in ghettos, for example — but the number is relatively small. There are some things many people pick up on just by constantly seeing them in their environment.

If you take a moment to think about it, you will find that you probably picked up some things, positive or negative, from your upbringing, and it took you a while to break out of some funny habits. This is a prime example of how our environment plays a critical role in the person that we become, and so it is vital that we place ourselves in positive and healthy environments as much as we can.

Most assuredly, if we can change the three things discussed in this article, we can change the trajectory of our lives. Emphasis on most assuredly!