How a Man Cave pointed to the way to effective Change Management!
I recently posted a video blog here on Linkedin where I encouraged you that if you are serious about your New Year's Resolutions or blowing away your targets for 2021 your priority should be your work environment first, then personal development. Why? Because the influences of the environment we work are in most cases, stronger than we are. Tweek your environment and people can't help but be swept up/influenced by it.
I want to use the ManCave as an example. Not that I really have the typical definition of a Man Cave in my house. I don't have a room with a 7 foot theatre screen for watching football, hockey and other sports with a stocked bar handy and Lazy Boy recliners positioned for comfort and social distancing :O)
However: If you define Man Cave as anyone's place to "get away" for some personal quiet time then I do have one. My Man Cave is our upstairs bathroom. Okay, don't laugh! It took some courage to confess that but deep down I KNOW that bathrooms across our continent are a place of refuge for many a weary soul. Yours might be for you too. They are a place to get away, spend some time uninterrupted and read.
On that topic: Are you a reader? I am, but mostly i devour short articles with one strong thought that I can digest and that make me think and apply. As much as I"ve tried over the years, I've found it very difficult to read books and to makes things worse I have many friends who devour books. I was jealous. I wanted to be them.
I wasn't succeeding.
The Issue:
The normal suspects for places to read in my home are also filled with easy distractions. Our couches/chairs either offer easy access to the TV remote or leave me in the middle of all the traffic lanes in our home where i can get bombarded with random requests and/or are in a beautifully sunlit room that is perfect for a nap!
So over the years I've tried and tried and tried to be a big book reader but i didn't have much success. My longest stretch of committed reading was 2 weeks before i fell back into old habits. To be honest, even in those 2 weeks that reading seemed like a chore. I had to drag myself to do it.
It didn't mean i wasn't reading.. i was still devouring short articles but didn't seem to have the personal power/will/fortitude to sustainably commit to reading the big books.
Enter "The Man Cave"
A few months back the magazine we had on top of the counter in our washroom had really come to a point of having seen its better days. Sometimes I'd flip through it but mostly until that time i would flip through my phone for news articles/social media posts. As fate would have it, as i considered what to replace it with i thought about two books I wanted to read.
What would happen if i put books in my Man Cave? I really started to think about and the more i thought the more I liked the idea. The above photo shows the two books I'm currently reading and loving. I made one more choice: I wouldn't take my cell phone in with me to be a distraction.
The Result:
With no distractions and an expectation to read during my beautiful quiet time, reading them doesn't seem like a chore any more. I am happy to say that for the past few months I have been flying through chapter after chapter in the books I've wanted to read. Its awesome!
The Lesson:
If you are a leader trying to change people it may seem like a chore. Change their environment first and you may just love the results (and so will they!).
Here's to your success in 2021!
David