The space that you live, work and play in will make a profound difference to your psychological and physiological well-being.  I always ask my coaching clients to take a close look at this category.  At the beginning of the week, I asked you to score yourself out of 10 for overall satisfaction in this category.  Now let's break it down.

Action - Look at the three following areas and rate yourself on each of them:-

1. Home
2. Work
3. Social
4. Personal Space

The first two are pretty self explanatory.  Social environment pertains to the groups of friends and acquaintances you regularly mix with and the locations at which you meet.  For example, do you always meet in a specific place?  Is it a municipal or sporting environment or a social gathering place?  Does that environment make you feel good?  Does it inspire you?  Is it comfortable?  Are you surrounded there by positive and outgoing people?

Personal space is really all about a designated place you can go to, to relax, reflect, plan, read, write or do just about anything where you are not going to be interrupted.  It might be a bench in a public park.  It might be a particular room in your house/flat/apartment.  It is important to have somewhere that you can just unwind and know that you are safe there.

Clutter - Any kind of clutter in any of your physical environments is likely to cause stress sooner or later.  There is a direct link between physical clutter and psychological clutter.  I wonder how many of you reading this can remember being wholly frustrated because you just can't find something.  You might have spent lots of wasted time going through piles of books or papers to find what you are looking for.  Perhaps the same may be true of your working environment.  If it is, you need to take some action to take care of this!

Action - Take just one area of your house/office/den/flat or wherever you feel attention is needed the most, and then block out some time THIS WEEK to clear it out.  If you have not looked at it or used it in the past 12 months, it can probably go to charity or goodwill.  Make a list of every area that needs to be tidied up or improved in some small way THEN make a plan to take care of each of those areas.  Remember once it has been sorted out, you will need to do some kind of regular maintenance to ensure that it stays that way.  If you can't do it, find somebody who can.  Make a commitment to get rid of the clutter and clear some space in your mind too.

It is not just clearing clutter that makes the difference.  Adding plants, changing decor and aromas in a room can make a difference.  Lighting makes a huge difference to mood and ambiance.  Decide what small changes you need to make.  If you need to hire an interior designer to help then go and find somebody who has this kind of expertise.  In the true spirit of doing due diligence, I recommend that you approach at least 3.

Last but not least, it is important that you then spend some quality time in your cared for physical environment.  Make a brief list of all the things that are better since making the changes and the things that have improved since.  Keep it somewhere visible to remind you of the benefit of keeping on top of this. 

Let me know how you get on!