Your dirty desk and why it’s keeping back your personal brand and business growth

When I speak to my clients and even my VAs I always tell them that confidence is a muscle. It only grows when we take action every day and put it to work. The truth is however, that muscle doesn’t work in isolation. Just like your body needs the right food and good sleep in order for all the heavy lifting to count, your confidence needs the right environment to thrive and this includes your physical environment. Sometimes small habits can have big impacts on our minds and on the way we process, manage and make decisions. Working in a clean and organised space doesn’t just feel good but it helps you to increase your focus, decrease your stress and allows you to feel like you’re control. This in turn contributes to you feeling stronger mentally and more confident about the things you do which ultimately is reflected in your personal and business growth. Here are 3 ways to start managing your environment so you can reduce your stress, increase your confidence and lead like the boss you were meant to be.

De-clutter your space

I’d be lying if I said I liked cleaning, but I absolutely love the end result of the activity and the way I feel in a clean and clutter free space. Whether it’s your living space or work space, if you find that there is a build of old paper, bills, bags and other random bits and bobs that add up to create what looks like the after effects of a small tornado , it’s time to clean. According to an article from NBC News, having multiple visual stimuli in your space makes it harder for you to narrow your focus and by extension concentrate. This makes it more difficult for you to be present and in the moment. This could affect your work by leaving you with a trail of unfinished projects or documents or even half written emails. This perpetual cycle of unfinished work could definitely have you feeling like a failure, bring your confidence down and negatively impact your personal brand and business growth.

Make your workspace your super comfortable

Given the fact that as an entrepreneur, you spend countless waking hours working, you should make every effort to make your workspace as comfortable as possible. If this means getting a chair with the right ergonomic support, playing calming music, having a standing desk or some other creature comfort, make it work for you. This is especially important if you’re working at home and you don’t have a dedicated work space. Get a chair that works with your body or use cushions to provide additional back support. You may not have nice elevator music, but YouTube has some excellent live jazz channels as well as 3-4 hour jazz music tracks that give you smooth and easy music to relax the mind. Give yourself the best and watch your personal brand and business flourish.

Plan your day before it happens

The power of a diary and planning your day before it happens can’t be understated. There is power in the check marks you can put next to a task to mark it as “done”! It’s the kind of management you need in order to remain organised and in control. There is nothing worse than being the lead in your own business and never knowing whether you’re coming or going. Particularly if you have team members relying on you have your s**t together. Even if you haven’t branched out into a business yet, your own life should include some level of scheduling and management. Like the other tips I mentioned above, scheduling your day allows you to have control over what’s happening in your life so you can actually meet milestones and work towards a goal. It also helps you know when to shut down and take time to recharge. Making the decision to start shutting off work no later than 9 p.m. every night has made a huge difference in my ability to relax and fall asleep at night. All great leaders are great planners because they create the road-map before setting out on their journey. They don’t start the route and make it up as they go along.

Taking charge of your environment is a habit that you must develop if you want to improve your personal growth, your personal brand and the work you do. While these tips may seem simple, they are like small drops that full a bucket. Ignore them long enough and you will never feel cool, calm and confident. Implement them consistently and your brand, business and life will transform.

** If you're ready to transform your personal brand and grow your business get my book " The Brandprint". If you want to schedule your content and have more control in your business, get my interactive and reusable content calendar.