How To Set Up Your Environment For Optimal Productivity

How much impact do you believe your work environment has on your productivity?

Research has consistently demonstrated that the environment plays a far bigger role in how we think and behave than most people realize. This is due to being unaware of its power and our desire to believe that we are more independent than we actually are. Below are some points to consider:

· Everything in your environment affects you, even if only to a small degree.

· It’s wise to do everything in your power to arrange your environment to fit you rather than the other way around. This will affect your level of focus, energy, and attitude. You can either have your environment continue as it is by default or stack the odds in your favor. Which will you choose?

· It’s easier for some people to modify their environment than others. However, even if you’re an employee in a rigid environment, if you approach management in terms of how some modifications will make you more productive. When management understands how your requested changes will help their profitability and success, they’ll be more likely to approve your requests.

Let’s consider some basic environmental factors that can impact your productivity.

Below is a list of questions about your environment that you may have accepted without much thought.

· What level of cleanliness and organization of your desk works best for you?

· Do you work best in an office, home, or combination?

· What level of lighting is best for you?

· What type of background sound and activity do you work best in?

· Do you do best in one workspace or prefer to move around?

· Would it help you to also stand or walk or just sit?

· Do you prefer to work more independently or collaboratively?

The people you surround yourself with

For most recruiting firm professionals, people are the biggest environmental factor you face. Clients and candidates and coworkers…Oh My!! The industry doesn’t lend itself to hiding behind a computer with little interaction.

Studies demonstrate that we tend to become like the people we associate with, for better or worse. We’re often unaware of how great an impact other people have on us.

For example, it’s very difficult to be productive, focused, and positive if you spend a lot of time with people who are unproductive, unfocused, and negative.

It’s wise to increase your awareness of how other people impact you by considering the following questions:

· What types of people raise your energy and cause you to feel good about yourself? Why is that?

· What types of people drain your energy and cause you to feel bad about yourself? Why is that?

· What types of people do you want to emulate? Why is that? Remember, the more you associate with these people, the more you’ll become like them.

· What types of people do you not want to emulate? Why is that?

Principles to manage interactions with others

Though you may wish to only interact with people whose company you enjoy, that’s not realistic. The good news is that you can apply the principles below to exercise some control over the impact that other people have on your productivity and stress level.:

· The higher up in your organization, the greater your ability to choose how much you interact with different people.

· You have three good choices for dealing with people who have a negative impact on you:

1. Learn to accept people as they are without personalizing their behavior while protecting yourself against their actions' negative consequences.

2. Communicate with them about your challenges in a way that respects your needs without making them bad or wrong. The purpose here is to encourage them to choose to change their behavior.

3. Avoid or minimize your interactions with them. This choice applies if your first two choices didn’t work or didn’t make sense to try. This applies to clients, candidates, coworkers, friends, acquaintances, etc.

If a person’s actions violate your important values, then avoidance is usually the best strategy. For example, accepting or trying to change what you consider unethical or dangerous behavior is unlikely to be effective.

In summary, your environment exerts a never-ending and powerful influence over your productivity, success, and well-being. Thus, it is important to approach it intentionally by first becoming aware of how it impacts you and then taking practical steps to improve

your results. I hope this article helps you achieve both goals, and I would love to hear your thoughts about it.

If you’d like some for practical tips to increase recruiter productivity, here’s a free guide: 15 Fast Hacks To Be A Highly Productive Recruiter