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By Suzanne L. Maxwell, Ph.D. for the Women's Leadership Exchange

Everywhere we turn nowadays we are urged to “go green,” to conserve, preserve, protect, and sustain in order to make Planet Earth more resilient and enduring. Perhaps it would be worth our while to leverage wisdom from the “green movement” in order to achieve similar results in our personal environment.

Assess your personal environmental
Think about it. Your personal environment – just like the environment of Planet Earth – either sustains and lifts you up or sets you up for certain failure. Your daily life unfolds in this space that you have created through actions, reactions or non-actions. You have designed – consciously or unconsciously – the space that you live in by accumulating bits and pieces into the following nine essential personal environmental areas:

1. Thought patterns – your beliefs, ideas, knowledge, cultural norms, paradigms.
2. Body – your physical body, health, energy.
3. Self – your personality, gifts, talents, strengths, emotions.
4. Spiritual – your connection to a higher source, love and self.
5. Relationships – your family, friends, close colleagues, support personnel.
6. Network – your community, strategic partners, customers.
7. Financial – your money, investments, budgeting, insurance.
8. Physical – your home, office, furnishings, equipment / technology.
9. Nature – your outdoors, beauty, seasons, cycle of life.

Construct an enviro-map
Clear your desk and take out a clean sheet of paper. Put “YOU” in the center of the page and then create a “mind-map” by drawing nine lines radiating out from the center – like rays from the sun. Label each line as one of the nine areas listed above. Reflect on each of these areas to identify what is supporting you and propelling you forward. Record – perhaps in green – your answers to the following:

* What makes your resilient?
* What contributes to your success?
* What inspires you?
* What are your “healthy” characteristics?
* What are your strengths and talents?
* What have you achieved?

Now, challenge yourself to honestly examine each of these areas to determine what you have accumulated that are personal bio-hazards. Perhaps using a red pen, record your answers to the following:

* What conditions are you tolerating?
* What would you like to be different?
* What has been holding you back?
* What are the negative themes that have been recurring?
* What is not working for you?

Identify steps to “go green” – right now, right here!
Through this quick scan and mapping of your personal environment, did you discover anything that surprised you? To really “go green,” you must create an action plan that enables you to: 1) explore ways to conserve, preserve, protect, and sustain those things that are working and 2) identify new ways to be efficient, organic, resourceful, and renewable within your personal environment.

1. Highlight the qualities of your personal environment that you want to cultivate.
2. Design ways to support yourself as you bring out more of these qualities.
3. Determine your attachment to things that are setting you up for failure.
4. Pinpoint aspects of your environment that you now want to change.
5. Design ways to modify the parts of your life that are holding you back.

There is no better time or place than right here, right now to experience the power of understanding the essential elements of your life and taking “green” actions to create a resilient and sustaining personal environment. Cleaning up your environment will be well worth your efforts. Take small steps – such as one less minor toleration in your life – to prepare for the big leaps – like changing careers or ending a relationship. Save Planet You!

Dr. Suzanne L. Maxwell is President of Maxwell Group, a professional services firm that supports clients through executive coaching and business consulting. She is a Ph.D. in social psychology and a professional certified coach of the International Coach Federation. She welcomes your inquiries and can be contacted via email at max@groupmaxwell.com.