Imagine trying to play soccer in a forest, doing your accounting without a computer, or setting out to climb Mt. Everest without any sherpas.
You wouldn’t get very far.
Those are examples of environments that don’t support the things trying to be achieved.
In the same way, your daily surroundings either support you or they don’t in trying to accomplish your goals.
In my last blog post, I talked about creating structures and habits to keep you on track with your goals despite the inevitable fear and discomfort that arise.
That’s part of the environment you create to support you in reaching your personal goals and business objectives.
What about the rest of your environment? As my coach, Hans Philips, is famous for saying: “You can’t outperform your environment.”
What does that mean?
When identifying your environment, it’s important to understand that everyone’s situation is unique to them. You and your neighbor might share the same goal, but that doesn't mean you are both under the same conditions or would take the same steps in order to make this goal a reality.
Let’s outline the ways you can begin to understand and improve your domain so you’re maximizing your ability to succeed.
Understanding Your Environment
First, let’s take a look at what factors make up your environment. Consider writing down your answer to each of the following questions:
Your job
What kind of work do you do?
Your workspace– Set up, contents of the space, lighting, decorations, inspirations, etc.
How organized is your space in supporting your work? What changes can you make to better support your workroom?
The people you surround yourself with every day
How do your friends and family support your goals?
Your inputs
What and whom do you read, view, and listen to?
Your mission statement as guidance for decisions
Is your vision for the future clear, declared, and available to view?
Your daily structure (as discussed in the last article)
Outline your daily routine
What habits do you engage in on a regular basis?
What processes and structures do you have in place?
Your accountability partner or team
Do you have someone in your life (coach, mentor, partner, friend) who keeps you accountable to your goals and empowers you along the way?
These are all the content of your environment that contribute to its overall quality.
Any aspect of your environment that isn’t working will create your upper limit for your performance, so the goal is to optimize the conditions in order to maximize our potential.
What Optimizing Your Environment Will Do For You
“Optimizing your environment eliminates energy leaks, inefficiencies, and distractions so work becomes more and more effortless.”
Optimizing your environment eliminates energy leaks, inefficiencies, and distractions so work becomes more and more effortless.
When you get serious about the moving parts that make up your environment, all of a sudden your ability to stay on track with your goals will begin to feel like a walk in the park. You’ll start seeing progress happen even when you’re not trying as “hard” as you think you would need to.
Optimizing your environment helps you stay in the flow.
For example, making a habit of maintaining an organized workspace means you're not going to be wasting time sorting through clutter. Having a clean and clear workspace promotes a clear mind and better focus so you have more time to concentrate on immediate tasks.
Optimizing your environment improves not only your focus but also your motivation. It gives you an extra boost of momentum, making your goals feel less and less daunting. You can also increase your productivity which means you will have more time for yourself in your personal life.
Strategies for Optimizing Your Environment
The first step in optimizing your environment is to get very clear about your vision and your goals and to have those available for easy reference in the area of your work.
Clarifying your vision means getting specific about what you want in the future and fully embracing that future as the true possibility you’re aiming for.
With that clear vision, it’s easier to see what needs to be done in order to get there - to create a roadmap to that vision.
With a roadmap of clearly understood goals and actions, you need to identify the routines, structures, and processes you can establish in order to keep you on track.
And don’t forget to identify the ways you get sidetracked. Create a list of all distractions you typically engage in.
If you spend a lot of time watching TV or scrolling through social media, you may need a screen-time block on your phone in order to mitigate this distraction.
Another important tool is to implement a system of rewards. After identifying your goal and outlining the steps you need to take to get there, see if you can offer yourself some sort of reward as you complete each step.
These rewards can be large or small. Anything from taking yourself out to a nice dinner to planning a small get-away, or buying yourself that special something you’ve been wanting for a while. Having rewards in place along the way is monumental in keeping you motivated and inspired to continue pushing to make your vision a reality.
Challenges and Strategies to Creating a Supportive Environment
Creating and identifying a goal for yourself is one thing, outlining how to work toward your goal is another, but facing the unexpected challenges that can and will pop up is something else entirely.
One of the best ways to work through these unforeseen challenges is by quite simply taking the time to acknowledge the fact that we cannot have full, 100%, control over our external influences.
Instead, we challenge ourselves to accept the fact that life will throw us curve balls. Understanding that the important thing here is that you continue trudging ahead in the face of any obstacle.
People usually give up on their goals as a result of running out of motivation. This is especially common when unforeseen events take place that begin to discourage or wear on our focus or our vision. That is why it is important to create a clear vision statement and have it posted somewhere where you can see it and be reminded of where you’re headed.
One of the biggest challenges we can face within our environment is with people who aren’t aligned with our goals. These are people who do not see your vision or who want to claim rights to your precious time and energy which distract you from your goals.
While sometimes this can manifest as people who are openly in disagreement with your plans, more often than not, you will end up being distracted by people in your life who have good intentions but are unable to compromise their needs in order to allow you to make the space to focus on yours.
The best way to avoid this (other than cutting people out of your life completely) is to create a special, private space or time for yourself that is allotted only for you and your goals. A space where you can focus, without distraction.
This doesn't have to be a physical space but can also be just a time frame that you set out for yourself each day or a couple of times a week. An opportunity where you get to check in with yourself, reassess what’s in front of you, and what you should focus on for the week ahead.
Conclusion
Creating an environment to support yourself and your goals is essential to your overall ability to stay motivated, focused, and inspired as you work toward your vision.
The four main things to take away from this article when endeavoring to optimize your environment are
Create a clear vision for what you want to achieve
Break down your goals into smaller, achievable tasks
Eliminate any potential distractions
Set a timeline for each goal
Take breaks and reward yourself for progress
Set time aside to take care of yourself
As you implement these structures, you will be infinitely more prepared to meet and exceed your goals seeing as you have optimized your environment to its fullest potential.
As we make our way into the second month of the new year, keep these tips and techniques on hand in order to ensure that you are not only staying on track with your goals but even more so, making 2023 your most empowered and enjoyable year yet!