This week is Simplify Your Life Week, a great time to explore the eighth of The Nine Environments of You — a powerful coaching model designed to create balance in your life. Today we’ll focus on the Physical Environment and the role it plays in designing the life you choose. I’ll provide an exercise to help you identify what needs tending to in your physical environment, so you can enjoy surroundings that support you in living a productive and joyful life.
Does your physical space inspire you? Do the sounds, lighting, and furnishings in your home, office, or car enhance your life in a positive and supportive way? Your physical environment has a huge effect on your mood. It’s important to create space that nurtures and stimulates you on every level, supports you in working and living productively, and helps you express your true personality and flair.
In 1995, I opened my own business, Paauwerfully Organized, to help people create a productive and enjoyable work and home environment. I loved transforming a client’s home or office environment from chaos and disarray to calm and productive.
Several months after completing my work with a client, I would check back with them to see how things were going … only to find that several of my clients were not maintaining the systems we had worked so hard to put in place.
Some of my colleagues reminded me that this was “job security” since these clients needed me to keep working with them to maintain an organized environment. Since my goal was to help a client create and maintain a productive environment without becoming dependent on me, the “Band-Aid” business model felt very much out of integrity.
Getting and Staying Organized
I soon came to realize that helping a client organize their physical environment without first clarifying their priorities was like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic!
I started using the metaphor of an iceberg to describe the work of getting organized. The tip of the iceberg represents the physical environment that we can see and organize. The part under the waterline (the biggest part) represents the mental part of being organized — being clear about priorities and organizing one’s schedule, space, and mind around those priorities.
Soon after starting my business, I realized that I needed some additional skills to assist my clients with the mental part of getting and staying organized. I started coach training school in 1997 and received my certification as a personal and professional coach by 1999. Since then, I’ve combined my skills as an Organizing / Productivity Consultant and a Coach in my work with clients.
I recall one client in particular (I’ll call her Jan), who invited me into her home to help her get organized. One thing I learned early on as a consultant was the importance of discovering who “owned” the problem. Initially, it sounded like Jan’s husband owned the problem, as he was the one who had suggested she hire me to help organize their house. But my work would be with her, not with him. I knew that if she was not motivated to solve the “problem,” any work I did with her would not have lasting results. My initial sense was that Jan did not care one way or the other. I was there to appease her husband’s wishes. As we toured through their home, I probed to find out if she had any personal motivation to organize and de-clutter.
Jan took me into a room that was filled floor-to -ceiling with boxes and piles of things. Although it was difficult to see it, buried in the middle of the room was a very large table. I asked Jan what the purpose was for the room. She told me that many years ago, she had been a quilter — something she loved doing. I asked her, “What stops you from quilting if it brings you so much joy?” She said that she had stopped quilting because she didn’t have any space to work in. The large quilting table in the middle of this room had been a perfect space for her work … but that was years ago, and she could not imagine ever reclaiming the space.
I told Jan, “If you want to quilt again, we can work together to transform and reclaim this space so there’s room for you to do your work.” Before my eyes, I saw Jan transform from being an unmotivated bystander to becoming a highly-motivated participant in de-cluttering and organizing their home, starting with the room that contained her quilting table.
Organizing your time and space without working from a foundation that supports your priorities and passions is not meaningful, and the results will not last. Once we identified Jan’s passion – her reason for wanting an organized space – there was no stopping her!
What are you tolerating in your physical environment?
Below are some questions to help you get clear about what you are tolerating in your Physical environment:
Does my physical environment at work inspire me?- Does my physical environment at home inspire me and bring me joy?
- Do my environments I spend time in (office, home, car, etc.) reflect who I am and help me feel “at home” when I am in that space?
- Is my physical environment clean and clutter free?
- Is my physical environment welcoming to others? Do I feel good about or embarrassed about inviting people into my space?
- Are the tools and equipment I regularly use in good working order?
- Do I have good lighting?
- Do the sounds around me support my work? Do I need to add or reduce sound?
- Do I have comfortable/ergonomic furnishings that enable me to work without feeling physical stress?
- Is my environment organized to support whatever is most important to me, so I can find what I need when I need it?
Once you’ve answered the questions above, you may have greater clarity about what needs some attention in your physical environment. I encourage you to identify some “upgrades” you desire, as well as specific actions you will take, and by when.
Here’s an example of what that looks like:
Upgrades desired in the Physical environment:
- Create a clutter-free office that inspires me.
- Organize my garage and get rid of things I no longer need.
Actions to be taken by when:
- Register for the free Buried in Paper webinar by this Thursday so I can learn how to make quick decisions about paper and information as it comes into my office and learn how to set up an effective reminder system for follow-up.
- Set up a reminder and filing system by (date) and commit to using my new decision-making process daily.
- Register for the free Find Anything in 5 Seconds or Less webinar by this Saturday and decide if I will use this “finding” system for my filing system and storage containers in the garage.
Now, it’s your turn to identify the upgrades you desire, the actions you will take, and by when. I encourage you to choose ONE thing you will do to upgrade your Physical Environment and commit to spending 15 minutes to take immediate action. As you do this with each environment, get ready to experience synchronicity in your life like never before, as things fall into place.
If you’d like a fresh perspective– someone to help you design the balanced life you want by decluttering your schedule, space and mind —let’s schedule a no-cost, no-pressure Discovery Call today.
Additional Resources:
- Blog: Balance Your Life: The 9 Environments of You (overview)
- Blog: Balance Your Life: Environment #1 – Memetic/Mental
- Blog: Balance Your Life: Environment #2 – Body
- Blog: Balance Your Life: Environment #3 – Self
- Blog: Balance Your Life: Environment #4 – Spiritual
- Blog: Balance Your Life: Environment #5 – Relationships
- Blog: Balance your Life: Environment #6 – Network
- Blog: Balance Your Life: Environment #7 – Financial
- Blog: What Does Clutter Cost You?
- Blog: Six Ways to Improve Your Office Organizing Skills
- Calculator: Cost of Disorganization
- Free Assessments: Free Personal & Professional Organizational Assessment Tools
- Guide: Organize Your Home: A Road Map to Getting Your Home in Order in Just 30 Days!
- Guide: Staying Organized in the Age of Distractions
- Guide: Your Guide to Preparing for Disaster — FREE
- Free Webinar: Buried in Paper: Declutter Your Schedule, Space and Mind So You Can Focus on What’s Most Important!
- Free Webinar: Find Anything in 5 Seconds or Less: Find What You Need… When You Need It!
Dear Kathy, I enjoyed and will benefit a lot from these blogs which you have worked on big time and these are all extremely helpful to many of us…I save all these great lessons and time to time refer to them and remind myself how thankful I am with your knowledge and ongoing support you provide us indefatigably!! Thank you. You are just amazing….
Best regards
Thank you, Sheida. I am glad you find this beneficial!