You need to get this right if you’re hoping to have any productivity in your work.
You can get some juicy information from a teacher - especially when she’s your wife.
My English teacher-slash-wife loves to share with me experiences she has in the world of middle school. It’s seventh grade. You know, the season of life when a young girl’s fancy turns to boys and a young boy’s fancy turns to making life hell for the girls. Add a dash of puberty and family disfunction and you’ve got a hotbed of story ideas and dinner table conversations.
Thankfully, my wife is classy and not trashy. She shares her daily experiences without names to protect the guilty. It doesn’t take away from the thrill of the share, and it protects us both whenever we run into those parents and kids at the local grocery store. #awkward
One evening she shared with me about a particular girl in her class who is struggling. Where to begin.
Classic teen attitude
Not making the grades
General don’t-care attitude
After her venting, my precious wife says to me, “You know, if I could just get her out of her environment, she would be a different person.”
The statement she made was pointing to the various groups of people and thought-processes this troubled girl was surrounding herself with. Living in a dysfunctional family, her subsequent poor choice of friends and her general lack of confidence, all contributed to her struggle to become so much more than she was currently producing.
Let that sink in for a moment. Now, personalize it for yourself. Our environment has a huge impact on our ability to become more than what we are producing!
As entrepreneurs, we have certain environments that we must get right. Here are four to consider.
Where I Do My Work
I’ve got a chair in our living room. In fact, I’m sitting in said chair right now. It’s not terribly comfortable and doesn’t adjust for napping. It’s just an upholstered chair. But, I like it. Not too hard, not too soft. Just right. When I’m in this chair, I can think, write, dream. It works for me.
I’ve tried the coffee shop. Too distracting for me. It’s sensory overload for my extroverted, visual self. Outdoors? Same problem.
I do have an office space, but I prefer to do more administrative duties in that space. And, well, it’s cluttered. The room makes me feel guilty.
The point is, this chair works for me, and you have to find that space that works for you. You know your personality and your attention span. So, experiment with various spaces until you find the one that maximizes your effectiveness.
A side note on space. If your space is cluttered, you’re already setting yourself up for failure. Take the time to clean and organize it. It’ll make a difference in your productivity.
When I Do My Work
This is another environment to master because Time and our subsequent tendency to mismanage it are real issues for people who are their own boss. I’m not a morning person. Please don’t expect any significant conversation from me before 9 am. I don’t get any formal writing done in the mornings. However, mornings are my prime time for being quiet, praying and reading inspirational materials. I even journal in the mornings. It’s a different kind of writing for me, so my pen flows well before everyone gets up.
Most of my research takes place throughout the day at various times because I can multitask this kind of work with other tasks and with people around me. In fact, it makes for great conversation starters with coworkers and family to be collecting research and sharing my findings with them as I go. You’d be surprised how helpful people can be with things you are learning and researching.
When it comes time to actually writing my articles and blogs, those things flow best later in the evenings for me. I need quiet. I need to be alone. I need my creative juices flowing. For me, that comes late at night.
Ok, those are the easy and most obvious environments to consider. Let’s wade a little deeper into this pool and tackle some of the more difficult environments. Grab a floatie.
The People You Surround Yourself With
You’ve maybe heard the old saying “You are who you hang around with.” Or something like that. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s old or not. Not even sure that’s how the saying goes. Too lazy to look it up. I just wrote this part during my prime writing time, not my researching time. Regardless, it’s a true statement. Experience has been my teacher.
I’ve spent the better part of 30 years working with teenagers and their parents. I’ve seen it time and time again. My wife experienced it with the struggling girl from her class. The "friends" she was hanging around with were affecting her attitude and motivation. It seems degradation feeds off itself. This young girl with so much talent and smarts wasn’t living up to her potential because of the distraction and encouragement of those with lesser motivation to succeed.
She surrounded herself with lousy friends.
This same concept, however, plays out in our own lives when we allow those who don’t hold the same motivation and drive to succeed that we have. You’ve taken on a career that requires motivation, focus, and discipline; not to mention a level of creativity and smarts that most people don’t have.
Why would you waste your precious time sharing your work with those with less motivation, no focus and very little discipline in their own careers?
I’m not suggesting that we shun and alienate anyone who doesn’t match our commitment to a dream. But, I am suggesting that you can’t expect these people to understand and support your work. Tell them your best practices. Share your victories. But, don’t waste your time seeking approval and advice from them.
Find like-minded people who are crushing it in pursuit of their dreams. Read motivational authors. Listen to people who are in your corner. Find a writing coach. These are the people you listen to.
Want to hear the latest gossip? Join your friends for a round of drinks at the bar. Want support for your dream? Jump into the middle of a group of dreamers.
The Thoughts That You Allow to Take Up Residence in Your Mind
This is probably the hardest environment to tackle. You can’t walk away from your thoughts. They linger like a bad odor emanating from the bottom drawer of your refrigerator. How we speak to ourselves has so much power over us and our success.
Now, I’m not big on meditation. I’ve always found it to be a bit awkward and supernatural. But, when I was challenged to incorporate Daily Affirmations and vocally speaking out loud my goals each day, I never expected the results I got. It was huge!
My past has a way of creating a very loud voice in my head: past failures, past hurts, past relationships. That’s why writing down your new thoughts and speaking them out loud is so vital to the process. It uses the power of speaking the truth to overwhelm the power of inner thoughts and feelings. Truth always trumps our thoughts and feelings.
I hope that my wife has the opportunity to be a voice of change in this young girl’s life. I’d love for her to be a success story and not a statistic. If I know my wife well enough, she’ll see this as a challenge and will give a little extra to help this girl succeed.
I wish the same for you. You are needed. You are more than capable. You have something to offer. Doesn’t it make sense to invest some time and attention to your environment so that you’re maximizing your effectiveness?
Today, put yourself in healthy environments of thought, people and spaces so that you’re creating your best work.
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