you and impact you—probably more than you give them credit for.
Give them their due and make sure that the sway they have on you
sends you in the direction you want to go.
If people are the first priority in creating a supportive
environment, place isn’t far behind. When your physical environment
isn’t in step with your goals, it can also keep you from ever getting
started on them in the first place.
“Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift
you higher.”
—Oprah Winfrey
I know this sounds oversimplified, but to succeed at doing your
ONE Thing you have to be able to get to it, and your physical
environment plays a vital role in whether you do or not. The wrong
surroundings may never let you get there. If your environment is so
full of distractions and diversions that before you can help yourself
you’ve gotten caught doing something you shouldn’t, you won’t get
where you need to go. Think of it as having to walk down an aisle of
candy every day when you’re trying to lose weight. Some may be able
to handle this easily, but most of us are going to sample some sweets
along the way.
What is around you will either aim you toward your time block
or pull you away. This starts from the time you wake up and continues
until you get to your time-block bunker. What you see and hear from
the time your alarm rings to when your time block begins ultimately
determines if you get there, when you get there, and whether you’re
ready to be productive when you do. So, do a trial run. Walk through
the path you’ll take each day, and eradicate all the sight and sound
thieves that you find. For me, at home it’s simple things like e-mail,
the morning paper, the morning TV news shows, the neighbors out
walking their dogs. All wonderful things, but not wonderful when I
have an appointment with myself to accomplish my ONE Thing. So, I
check off e-mail quickly, I never see the paper, I keep the TV cabinet