Do you ever go on holiday and say, ‘when I get back home, I’m going to do this.’ ‘This’ could be anything – new habits, fun activities, new hobbies, relaxing… but fall back into your old habits pretty much straight away? 

Taking ourselves out of our usual environment, such as going on a holiday, makes us take a new perspective on how we live life, especially highlighting what’s not working or missing in your daily life. 

Now, it’s not like we need to live out a holiday experience all the time, but we can re-evaluate and make some positive changes from our holiday experiences! 

Including:

• The people we spend time with regularly 
• The places we spend most of our time
• The things we surround ourselves with 
• And the thoughts we experience every day 

To do this, follow the steps below in my environment audit:

Step 1: 

Copy this matrix: 

Step 2:

List in the top left box the ​people​ you interact with most; in the top-right, list the places​ you spend most of your time; in the bottom left box, list the things ​you have or interact with most often and in the final box, write down the ​thoughts​ that come up for you daily. 

Step 3:

Now go back over each item and next to each put a ✔ if it’s supporting your work- life balance or an ​X if it’s hindering it. When you’re done, take a look at the items with ​X’s.

​ Consider the following questions:

• How can you limit, remove or shift your interaction with these aspects of your environment?
• What can you add to enhance your environment and better align it with a healthy work / life balance? 

To take this activity to the next level (for all you high achievers reading this), re-create the chart and only list things from your ideal or dream environment. This exercise will help you see where you can start closing the gap between where you are today and where you want to be!