If you don't control your environment, your environment will control you.
Do not enter, session in progress, men at work, enter at your own risk, beware, no trespassing. We have all seen these signs, warnings to would be interlopers into areas preserved and protected for a purpose. Have you ever been in the middle of a phone conversation and been interrupted? Or perhaps you are working away on your laptop or writing in your journal and in walks a human or four legged distraction, completely unaware and content, to interrupt what you had been keenly focusing on just before their uninvited, unannounced arrival? What happens? When this occurs in my life, threads of thought slip from my mental grasp, often never to return in quite the same way, then I get agitated. The agitation is initially with the interloper, followed not long afterward with self agitation. I could blame the interrupters for this thought thread loss, but this would be unfair and one sided. Without a "do not enter I am working here" sign on my door, the opposite is almost true, as in, "I'm open for business, what can I do for you?" Here in lies the questions we can ask ourselves: Is what I am doing important to me? How serious am I about my tasks? What kind of outcomes do I desire? What am I looking to accomplish and the big big question, WHY? What purpose does it serve to do whatever it is I feel I must do? Asking and answering these questions clarifies much and in so doing, it leads to this next question: What am I willing to do to control my environment, protect it from interruption and space invasion? It does not matter if you work from home, in a cubicle or corner office Dear Reader, we all share space and are prone to interruption from time to time. If being interrupted is a frequent occurrence, might I suggest that it is you that allows the static, the interference? I have often craved being alone, soaking in the savoury feeling of me and my thoughts, pouring out freely, unimpeded. I thought I had to go somewhere to experience this and I realize now that it has been an excuse, a way of putting off. It is not others that get in my way, it is I. There is a me inside that gets to love all the people (and four legged creatures) in my life AND love myself enough to establish a controlled environment for the work I am committed to completing. "Do not disturb" or "Closed from 2-6" may very well be the signs I hang outside the space I choose to work in, to control my environment so that it doesn't feel like it is controlling me. Your turn Dear One-what are you willing to say and do to protect your time, energy and space, so that you can be about your business and get the job done and done well?
Do not enter, session in progress, men at work, enter at your own risk, beware, no trespassing. We have all seen these signs, warnings to would be interlopers into areas preserved and protected for a purpose. Have you ever been in the middle of a phone conversation and been interrupted? Or perhaps you are working away on your laptop or writing in your journal and in walks a human or four legged distraction, completely unaware and content, to interrupt what you had been keenly focusing on just before their uninvited, unannounced arrival? What happens? When this occurs in my life, threads of thought slip from my mental grasp, often never to return in quite the same way, then I get agitated. The agitation is initially with the interloper, followed not long afterward with self agitation. I could blame the interrupters for this thought thread loss, but this would be unfair and one sided. Without a "do not enter I am working here" sign on my door, the opposite is almost true, as in, "I'm open for business, what can I do for you?" Here in lies the questions we can ask ourselves: Is what I am doing important to me? How serious am I about my tasks? What kind of outcomes do I desire? What am I looking to accomplish and the big big question, WHY? What purpose does it serve to do whatever it is I feel I must do? Asking and answering these questions clarifies much and in so doing, it leads to this next question: What am I willing to do to control my environment, protect it from interruption and space invasion? It does not matter if you work from home, in a cubicle or corner office Dear Reader, we all share space and are prone to interruption from time to time. If being interrupted is a frequent occurrence, might I suggest that it is you that allows the static, the interference? I have often craved being alone, soaking in the savoury feeling of me and my thoughts, pouring out freely, unimpeded. I thought I had to go somewhere to experience this and I realize now that it has been an excuse, a way of putting off. It is not others that get in my way, it is I. There is a me inside that gets to love all the people (and four legged creatures) in my life AND love myself enough to establish a controlled environment for the work I am committed to completing. "Do not disturb" or "Closed from 2-6" may very well be the signs I hang outside the space I choose to work in, to control my environment so that it doesn't feel like it is controlling me. Your turn Dear One-what are you willing to say and do to protect your time, energy and space, so that you can be about your business and get the job done and done well?
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