Does this scenario sound familiar? You like to work at a particular coffee shop every once in a while. Excellent java, away from the distractions of the office, free Wi-Fi, comfortable chairs, great background music at just the right volume…nirvana. Productivity!
One day it is crowded and rather than your spot, you get a bad seat. A couple sits near you and starts to argue. Someone changes the music to something you don’t like, and it’s too loud. How are you feeling now? Cranky maybe? Unsettled? Unhappy? Guess what – your productivity just dropped. What had been a comfortable place of tranquility is now disruption central.
On top of that, the coffee isn’t right, and you take out your frustration on the Barista. You catch yourself and apologize for acting out… “that’s not me,” you explain.
Are you aware of how your environment shapes you – are you a victim of your environment?
If you monitor, participate, or support the lawyer well-being movement at all, you know that study after study has demonstrated that lawyers are feeling the impact of stress more than ever. Symptoms surface across multiple categories: physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral.
Of those four categories, my forte is the behavioral and I have worked with senior leaders for over 25 years in just about every industry. Oftentimes these leaders are unaware the true origin of their behavioral – and sometimes emotional – stress.
Our environment is not consistent; it changes continually throughout our day, both at work and outside of work. Each person we interact with exposes us to a new condition of our environment.
Any new environment or new condition of that environment changes our behavior. Sometimes just one aspect of an environmental change can turn an ideal situation into a disaster.
When the conditions are in sync with our expectation, we do quite well. When the conditions are out of sync (altering our environment), we react with a counterproductive reactive stress behavior. If we go back to the coffee shop example – the reason you usually go to that particular shop is that it meets your environmental needs and, thus, all is right in the world. When that expected environment goes topsy-turvy, it’s tough on you. You can plug just about any scenario in for the coffee shop example, and the outcome is the same.
Every time we enter a new situation, we are surrendering ourselves to a new environment. That puts our goals, plans, and behavior at risk unless we are self-aware and can self-manage our reactions.
We’ve all known people (clients, coworkers, supervisors, family members, etc.) who got on our nerves for any number of reasons – the reasons themselves are unimportant. It is the environment that person creates for you that is important. Many times that person induces us to behave badly.
You are feeling good, all is well, then I walk into the room and the instant you see me – without even necessarily interacting with me – and all of a sudden you’re edgy, anxious, oversensitive, agitated (or any other number of reactions). In a single word – stressed. You are on high alert, and you just got thrown off your game.
If we don’t create and control our environment, our environment creates and controls us.
In my opinion, this is why investing in self-awareness as part of well-being is critical. Well-being plays a vital role in business profitability and growth with higher levels of mental and physical health linked to increased productivity. Higher productivity yields increased performance.
Make sure you understand what your most productive environment is and communicate that to your boss, your spouse, your peers – anyone you interact with regularly. Reciprocate and ask them what they need. Do your best to help them attain that environment.
I encourage you to find someone, like myself, who is appropriately qualified to help you raise your sense of self-awareness. It will be one of the best investments you can make in yourself and for your well-being.
Let’s not fall victim to changes in our environment. Prepare for them. Know what you need so you can choose how to respond when your environment shifts.