A Letter from Chris Suarez
PLACE YOURSELF IN THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT
I have often felt and said that space matters. That my physical environment and the space that I work in, live in, play in and even sleep in matters to me. Now, that is not to say that I can’t accomplish my goals, or be the person I want to be, or find happiness without the right physical space to work from or live in. Close friends can attest to the fact that I have worked and lived in some interesting spaces. I grew up in less than 800 square feet with a family of five. I've lived in studio apartments with multiple roommates. I’ve worked from cubicles to broom closets to hallways. The physical characteristics of a space is just a small part of what we call “environment.”
My fascination with space has been the driving force behind me creating or architecting the office that our business runs out of and creating or architecting a home for my family to live in. That focus on space has also caused me to create or architect experiences for my family and friends to step into new spaces with new people. To push myself into new environments.
Over the last month or so I have talked to so many people that have been missing travel during this pandemic. In fact, the inability for them to “get away” or “go on vacation” has led them to feel exhausted or tired. This was the month they were to be in Europe, or be in Hawaii, or on the beach in Mexico, or spending the week in New York. As I reflected on this thought of environment, I realized that a large part of traveling or vacation is actually putting ourselves in new environments in order to allow ourselves to relax, slow down, think differently, recharge, change perspective, change pace, perhaps even “get away.”
What would the world look like though if our every day environment allowed us to do all of those things? What about our current environment do we need to “get away” from? My personal answers to these questions caused me to journal around three critical areas of environment that we must control:
Physical Environment
What do I see? What do I hear? What do I feel? All of our senses cause physical and emotional reactions within our bodies. Our physical environment matters. It is why we drive into the woods, or drive out to the ocean or fly to that vacation. It’s why apps like Pinterest or Houzz have a combined 400 million members and are collectively worth over $14 billion. Yes, billion. Physical space matters to us.
Emotional Environment
We could be in the most beautiful space physically, but if our emotional environment isn’t safe, we will never grow. Our emotional environment is a combination of everything effecting our internal esteem and external esteem. We must be in an environment that builds up, that protects, that we feel safe in emotionally. Our emotional environment promotes growth because we feel safe making mistakes, we feel valued and know the work we do is important, we are recognized in a way that matters to us. Our emotional environment also include the energy we allow in and out of that space. Emotion is more contagious than any virus…as it transmits with just a glance.
Mental Environment
We must put ourselves in an environment where we are growing mentally. An environment that challenges the way we think and what we think about. An intellectual environment is critically important. An environment in which we can really collaborate with both like and unlike thinking is important. An environment where people are ahead of us and behind us is critical. We often discount how important our mental environment is as a contributor to our short term and long term growth, and perhaps more importantly, even our level of fulfillment.
Think about your current environment. Where does your current physical, emotional, and mental environment land? Where are changes needed?
The environment that we choose to be in is potentially the most important decision of our lives as it effects all other decisions and all human behavior. I often share my favorite quote from James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits:
“Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.”
I believe that to my core. And unfortunately, anything invisible is at times hard to understand. Try explaining gravity or molecular biology or belief in a higher being to a child. Anything invisible is hard to understand.
The key is to change our environment from being just a “space” into being a “place.” If we can hire an architect to help us design our home or office and bring that to life, why can’t we hire an architect to help us design and build a space…or perhaps more fittingly, architect our place. The difference? Well even by definition, “space” is something “abstract, without any substantial meaning”. A “place” in contrast refers to how “people are aware of and attracted to a space.” By attention to our environment and bringing visibility to something invisible, we are able to create a place for ourselves, for our families, for our co-workers, for our collaborators, for our teammates.
Remember that environment is oftentimes invisible. As leaders how do we not allow the environment to become ethereal? I suggest we to execute the 4 D’s of Environment:
Define: Clearly define the characteristics and values of the environment you would choose to be part of.
Design: Begin to design the physical, emotional and mental models of that environment. This will include designing the type of people that it will take to build that environment and the people that would benefit by being part of it.
Deliver: Build what you defined and designed. This is where accountability to the mission and vision of a company or environment comes into play. You can imagine and talk about the perfect environment all you want. You can swipe through photos on Pinterest for years. It takes hard work to execute and deliver on that mental picture. Deliver on the promise.
Demonstrate: We must model what it looks like and feels like to be part of your ideal environment. If you want to be in a growth environment, what are you doing to grow? If you want to be part of a collaborative environment, what are you sharing and who are you sharing with?
Dialogue: Talk about your environment and look for opportunities to highlight demonstrations of your environment in action. Remember, environments will become invisible unless you bring attention to them consistently.
Become the architect of your environment. It is a choice you make. Make that environment visible to everyone part of it. Perhaps a part of your current environment is not ideal. Perhaps you need a bit of environmental therapy.
Interestingly enough, there is a psychodynamic therapy called Milieu Therapy, or MT. It is taken from the French word “milieu” which means “middle.” The approach to this therapy is based on changing human behavior by bringing someone into the middle of a new environment, a new group of people, a new way of thinking, and a new series of behaviors through an immersive process. As humans, when we try something new we tend to stay on the outside, dipping our toe in the water perhaps. Milieu Therapy is built around the theory that we need to play all-in. We need to dive into the middle of the pool. We need to jump into a new environment.
Environment is a choice.
Place yourself in the right environment.
Chris