This week we are going to start a series inspired by patio furniture.  We will begin by thinking about patio furniture and designing spaces.

Back in March, my wife and I started talking about getting some different patio furniture.  At the time we had this large and super heavy hexagon shaped table made of wood with built in benches.  It had managed to make it through quite a few years, but now the wood was warping, and the table was starting to fall apart.  While the table was super durable, it wasn’t exactly comfortable and inviting.  My wife and I wanted a space where we would all hang out and enjoy reading books, playing games, or just chilling.  We kept this in mind as we went furniture shopping and focused on things that felt cozy and comfy.  We set up the new furniture in early April, and we’ve already spent more time outside on that furniture than we did all last year on the old wooden table.  (Side note-I know what you’re thinking.  “Dang! I wish I could look as cool as Andrew.”  Be patient folks.  It took me years to get here.)

What does this have to do with anything?  In the above story, my wife and I wanted to drive a specific behavior (having the family hang out together outside).  We knew that we wouldn’t do this just by saying we needed to spend more time outside.  Instead, we had to alter the environment to make it easier to spend time together outside.

Think about your environment.  Does your environment make it easier or harder to achieve your desired behaviors?  Maybe you have a personal goal to be more active, how are you designing your environment to make that easier?  For me, I’ve found that if I set out my running gear the night before, then it’s so much easier to go for a run in the morning.  As you think about work, how does your environment enable the right behaviors?  Maybe, there are changes in the physical environment you could make.  Maybe, it’s about setting up the right culture, so the desired behaviors become easier and are rewarded, while the negative behaviors are discouraged.  Maybe it’s about having better meeting hygiene, where clear objectives make it easier to accomplish things.

The challenge- How will you design your environment to help you be successful?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry