⏳ Erebus Growing | 0020 - The importance of designing space for success

Welcome to Erebus Growing, a weekly email where I share little snippets of life to help you change and grow into your highest life.

These past few weeks have been the testing grounds for me this year.

And thinking back to my journey last year with rowing, well, it’s about that time.

I’ve stopped doing my work on Twitter because I feel like I’ve lost my desire.

I’ve missed a couple of days of working out because I’m just not feeling it.

I’ve quite frankly just been down in the dumps because I let myself get there.

Now, to be clear, it’s always possible to just have those moments and days of frustration and depression and sadness and such.

But for me in this case, I can see where things went awry. I started to fall back into old habits that don’t serve me well:

• Eating out more often

• Drinking too much soda

• Trying my hand at dating apps

• And just comparing myself to everyone else.

For me, they’ve all been triggers in the past, and when I give in too much, well, it multiplies without question.

The good news is I have this week off from the 9-5, so I’m going to be spending some time journaling, restructuring things, and overall just recalibrating.

Life is many things, but never a lost cause.

Success is easy. Small, consistent actions, day in and day out, will get you there. Just don’t be fooled into quitting.

👨🏻‍💻 Meditation

We all have certain things in our lives that cause us to change how we’re acting.

For me, one has always been trips back to my childhood home where my grandmother lived, and now where my mother lives.

Any trip back there puts me in the mindset of being a teenager again.

I suspect that a lot of it comes from being in my childhood bedroom, surrounded by all of my belongings that did not come with me when I moved out nearly 9 years ago.

And it speaks to the environment we surround ourselves with and how much they influence us.

One of the things that I have strived to do in every area of my life, since I realized the power at least, is to design my environment.

I’ve been working diligently to build an environment where it’s simply made for success.

Whether it’s my kitchen, living room, office at work, phone, car, or even just my head, it’s important to design your space as you can.

Fill it with things that you want there.

Remove things that you don’t.

My phone is a great example.

I have an iPhone, and I’ve made use of the fact that I don’t need to have apps on the home screen in order to have them on my phone.

In fact, virtually all of the apps are just in the app library now.

Out of sight, out of mind.

And, the apps that I want to focus on, I can leave on the main screens I use.

I do the same in my kitchen.

I’ve been very conscious of what I have sitting out, and I’m actually planning on moving some things around this week as I really consider what I want out versus what’s out because I just haven’t bothered to find a place for it.

But likely the biggest examples are my workspaces at home and in the office at the 9-5.

At home, I do most of my work from the kitchen table. So, I’ve taken to keeping it as clean as I can. (Over the past few weeks, it’s gotten a little crowded, so I need to fix it up a bit this week.)

The most important part though, is that everything here is here because I want it here. 

It’s something that I think about, enjoy, use, or just want to be present in my workspace.

It’s the same with my office. This past week, I spent a few hours just sorting through things that I had accumulated and got rid of probably two-thirds of the items.

Things that had found their way into my space but weren’t being used or, more so, just taking up space physically and mentally.

I want my office to be a space that people enjoy when they come into it. That I enjoy, given how much time every week I spend there.

All of this design, it leads to building a conscious life, an intentional life, that pushes you into the realm of success even when you don’t expect to get there.

The reason we flourish in routine and habit and designed environment is that they are a reflection of what we wanted when we were at our highest despite who we might be in this current moment.

📚 Inspiration and Resources
Every week we all consume content and I share my favorites here.

Read.
A short story that someone on Twitter introduced to me a few weeks ago, The Last Question by Issac Asimov is one brilliant reflection on the potential for how the universe lives and dies, how it continues forever. Give it a read here.

📓 Journaling Prompt
Journaling is one of the most important things to do when exploring our own lives. A new prompt for you to use this week is below.

What are the triggers in your life that set you back in your growth?

Until next time, I wish you enough and send you off with love and a sense of urgency in your life.