There is "You" and there is everything else. The "everything else" is your environment. Did you know that you can dramatically increase your ability to succeed both personally and professionally, while at the same time making your life much easier, by simply changing your relationship to your environment? Your environment includes:

• Other people (relationships)
• Your physical environment:
  • Nature, air, light, sound, animals
  • Things (such as your house, office, car, clothes, furniture, computers,
    phones, etc.)
• Ideas (concepts, information)
• Intangibles - such as time and energy

Thomas Leonard (one of the founders of the Coaching profession) said: "Most people have one of three common relationships with their environment:

1. They try to protect themselves from it
2. They tolerate it
3. They try to 'work around it' so that it does not get in their way or slow them down."

Everyone knows the phrase, "You are a product of your environment," but most people never realize that they have the potential to proactively design and create environments that bring out their best. If you have any of the above three relationships with your environment, then chances are you are using a lot of personal energy and willpower to get things done. When you design empowering environments, the environments themselves support you and naturally pull you forward.

Here is a simple analogy to help you shift your thinking in this area. Many of us know people that have physical disabilities. We sometimes refer to such people as having "special needs". For example, we understand that people in wheelchairs need homes and offices with wide doorways, ramps, slip-resistant floors, grab bars, etc. We recognize that these modifications to their environment allow special needs individuals to function more effectively and efficiently. The secret is to realize that we all have special needs. Ask yourself:

• What is unique about me?
• How do I work best?
• How can I design and create an environment that will be ideal for me, and will support and inspire me?

Properly constructed environments can do all of the following and more:

• Nurture you - make you feel safe and protected
• Support you - provide you what you need to be your best
• Protect you - from the physical elements and other people
• Inspire you and naturally pull you forward; release your creativity
• Manage you - focus your time and attention

Here are some examples of how several of my coaching clients designed environments that accomplished one or more of the above:

* A senior administrator at a high tech firm passionately wanted to write a novel in her spare time. However, each evening as she sat down to write in her family room, living room or kitchen her husband and daughter soon began to hover around her and the noise and constant interruption destroyed her creative train of thought. She chose to create for herself an empowering environment for her writing by doing the following:

• Using an inexpensive decorative screen to close off a private space in the family room for her writing
• Equipping her space with the tools she needed to be productive (e.g., computer, printer, pen, paper)
• Setting personal boundaries with her husband and daughter by saying, "I am going to set aside one hour each evening to write. I ask that when I am writing you do not interrupt me unless someone is dying or giving birth."

With ingenuity and humor she created an environment that fostered her creativity.

* A self-employed professional set up an office for herself using the only unoccupied room in her house - an upstairs bedroom. She hated working in her "office" because it had only one small window and made her feel closed in. But for months she kept "tolerating" her less than ideal working environment. When I asked her to think about what kind of environment would inspire her and allow her to be her best, she got creative. She brought her laptop down to her kitchen nook and set it up on the corner of her kitchen table. She installed a wireless network and hid her printer in the stereo cabinet in the adjoining family room. The nook has floor-to-ceiling windows along two walls and a beautiful view of her backyard pool. Now she loves her working environment and feels supported and inspired by it.

* A busy executive knew he needed to exercise more to improve his health, but could not figure out how to make the time. He believed he could carve out 45 minutes each day but calculated it would take him 25 minutes just to drive to the gym and back. He kept trying to use his willpower to make himself drive to the gym but he never succeeded. Once we had a conversation about supportive environments, he realized he could easily get a good workout at home in 45 minutes if he just put the right equipment in place. He bought some inexpensive free weights and a small weight bench that he stores in an unused closet in his bedroom. Each morning it takes him one minute to set up his exercise environment and he has 44 minutes left to get his daily workout.

* One of my clients has ADHD. For years he found himself constantly missing appointments and getting himself in hot water both personally and professionally. Each time it happened he would beat himself up for being so "absent minded" and resolve to "be better next time." He spent a lot of time and energy trying to force himself to be more organized and time conscious - something that did not come naturally to him. Then he bought a Palm organizer. Now he uses the Palm's calendar and alarm features to effortlessly empower him to be more organized and on time. He uses his Palm as an environment to focus and manage himself.

* Kelly is a person that has her most creative ideas in the middle of the night. For years she would wake up at 2 or 3 a.m. with all kinds of brilliant ideas that she would promptly forget by morning. Then one day Kelly decided to put a pad of paper and a pen under her pillow. Each night she woke up with a great idea she would grab for her pad and paper and start writing - in the dark. Other people tried to "improve" on her environment by suggesting she turn on the light to write, buy a "lighted pen" (they do exist!), or use a tape recorder. None of these ideas suited Kelly. She loved writing on her pad in the dark. She designed her environment to be ideal for her, even though others might do it a different way.

There are hundreds of other examples of how people have designed their environments to improve the quality of their lives. The key is to discover what works for you. Then instead of spending all of your energy trying to work on yourself - for example trying to make yourself more creative, productive, or organized - work on creating an empowering environment and let the environment bring out your best.

What is your point of view? Please post your thoughts on the discussion board.

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