How to Create a Supportive Environment

One way to give yourself a better life in your business is to take a look at the many aspects of your environment - and the environment of your sales career, or business (these are two seperate views) - then evaluate and prioritize changes you'd like to see.

Start with something small - a tweak that alters your day or viewpoint. One of my auctioneer colleagues made a physical change to her office. Yesterday she said it had "changed her life" because it made a stronger seperation between work and home for her. She is now more productive, and creative. Plus, she declared this change, then made it - so now her resolve is high and she has a sense of accomplishment.

Surround yourself with a network of like-minded people. This can be done but virtually and in person. Find others who understand your ideas and can add to them, or offer a different angle - even a bigger view. You could say that these people "get it" - they know what you are saying and while they may not always agree, they support you at your core.

Find a couple of pure renegades who challenge you - they push you to think differently. No successful person had only "yes people" around -we need to be able to accept others' views and tweak or change as we go. If you don't know of anyone who fills that role, I'd be happy to challenge one of your ideas - just drop me an email.

Set up a structure that frees you from detailed work - wrote tasks, and mundane details which swallow your valuable time. Once you do this - pull from your environment rather than beating yourself up to get more out of the minutes you have - you'll have more energy to think and create - otherwise it will be stifled.

Focus not only on the physical environment, but the memes (what you think), the emotions (what you feel) and challenge what you are reading, who you are talking with each day, and what your schedule looks like.

Create time to clarify your mission, vision, and values - these should offer you the compass for the above actions.

Learn what energizes you, and do that. Find out what zaps energy, and outsource that.

What would you add to this list?