Does Your Environment Support You?
Consider for a moment the places that are the most important to you. How do you feel when you are there? I am speaking about the sacred spaces where you do your work… where you meet your family… and where you relax at the end of the day.
Just as your skeleton supports your body, your environment needs to sustain and fortify you. Too much clutter can drain most of us. Having things in your environment that you don’t love just doesn’t make sense. A light and easy read on this is “Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui” by Karen Kingston.
But there is more.
What about how you work? Are there ways you can rework what you do to support you better? For example, do you have office hours during part of the day that isn’t your personal favorite? Have you thought about changing that? Many people think that if they change the hours or days they work, they will lose clients.
Personally, I think this is something that needs to be tested. I know that I can easily book 5pm sessions. I also know I am a morning person. My 5pm clients don’t get me at my best. They get better input from me and I tend to keep clients longer if I see them at my personal peak times.
What about your systems? If you do repetitive tasks, can you batch them together so that you are not pulled in too many directions? For example, do you devote a fair amount of time checking your email throughout the day or updating your Facebook page? These can be huge time drains and make you feel like you are working although it may lead to little income coming in. (Maybe I will do a whole article on managing emails. What do you think?)
Take a moment this week and view your environment with new eyes.
Ask yourself:
1. How do I feel when I enter this area? Do I look forward to coming in here?
2. What is the function of this space? Is it to relax, to work, to be creative? Is it meeting that objective?
3. Based on the answers to the above questions, what is the first (or next) action step I need to take to make my environment more supportive and conducive to my life, work, relaxation and play time?
(By the way, when I asked myself that question two days ago it led to a serious decluttering of my bathroom. It is amazing how much old makeup and lotions one can collect!)
Just imagine how much more pleasant and productive your life and work could be if you set up your environment to fully support you.
