How to Create Productive Surroundings

Do you ever feel like you're swimming against a tide of distractions, struggling to get anything meaningful done? You're not alone. And today I'm going to share my personal journey of creating a productive environment in this crazy, chaotic digital age, and the strategies that have been game changers for me. So let's dive in.

Welcome to the School of Self-image, where personal development meets style. Here's your hostess, Master Life Coach, Tonya Leigh.

Well, hello friends. Welcome back to the podcast. I am coming off probably the busiest season of my entire life. You've probably heard me mention on the podcast, but we moved this summer. I've been going back and forth to my parents. I've been traveling because we are doing the SOSI Tour, so we have been to LA. We held the first one in Charlotte, and then I'm off to London, and then we wrap up in New York.

And on top of that, we just finished launching the style experience, and we are having so much fun inside of that program. But there are a lot of things that go into launching a program, and finessing and refining the content, and then we also have the incredible membership. And this month we are focused on the art of joyful hustle within the membership. And that's what I've been doing. I have been joyfully hustling. I have been so productive. I am so incredibly proud of myself because there were a few moments over the last couple of months that I had the thought, "I don't know how I'm going to get it all done." And yet here we are, it all got done.

And one of the things that I know has been very supportive of me being productive is how I set up my environment. I'm calling this productive surroundings, how you can set yourself up for success, how you can set yourself up to do really deep and quality work that you feel proud of, and also have a life outside of work. I don't believe in work-life balance. I think when we think of that term, we think 50% work, 50% life, and that's not how life is. In case you all haven't noticed, there are seasons where you may work more, there may be seasons where you work less, but there is a harmony that I feel like we're all seeking.

And one of the ways that I do that is by being productive in a way that feels really good, not being busy. There's a big difference between being busy and being productive. Productive means producing things, producing outcomes. And there were many years in my life where I was really busy, but I wasn't really producing anything that was leading me towards the life I wanted. It was basically me just trying to navigate the life I had. And looking back, I also see it was just me avoiding doing the harder things, the things that require that I sit down, and I really focus, and that I put myself out there and make myself available to failure.

And so busy was my go-to, but it wasn't getting me to where I wanted to go. And when I decided to start my own business, I had to really learn how to be productive. And it's a skill that I've been working on year, after year, after year. And this year I got to really witness all of those years of practice and refining and figuring out what works for me because what works for me may not work for you, but I'm hoping that what I share today will give you some ideas, maybe some tools, and I always encourage you to try them on, just like an outfit, and see how it fits. We all have different rhythms, we all have different lifestyles. We all have different wants and desires, and so it's really important that we pay attention to what helps us to be productive. I think about my good friend Lisa.

She loves her paper. She's not a computer girl. She stays productive with notebooks and good old paper calendar, that's how she does it. I can't imagine that for myself. I am Google all of the way. But she's very productive and that's why I'm sharing this with you as inspiration, but also you have to make sure that it works for you.

Now, I think we can all agree that we're living in a world of constant distractions. Our phones are always buzzing, our inboxes are overflowing, and there's always another notification that's trying to get our attention. It's like this never ending tug of war between what we need to do and what's trying to steal our focus. I know for me, I used to jump from task to task, always busy, but never really accomplishing anything substantial. And it was frustrating. I'd end my days feeling exhausted, but with little to show for it.

Does that sound familiar? You may be thinking, "Girl, I am always doing something, but I don't feel like I'm getting any traction." I know for me, I realized something had to change. I needed to create an environment that worked for me, not against me. So I started experimenting with different strategies, and today I am going to share what has worked for me. Now, some of these may be a little unconventional, but most of them I feel are pretty mainstream, and I encourage you again to try whichever one's on that speak to you.

So the first concept is around deep work and distractions. So if you listen to last week's episode with my incredible assistant, we talked about this concept, but embracing deep work was a game changer for me because this isn't just about focusing, it's about creating conditions that allow for intense concentration. So for me, what I do is like a notification blackout.

During my deep work sessions, I turn off all notifications. I put my phone face down where I can't see who's texting me, who's calling me. I put my Slack notifications on hold, I block out everything. I do 45-minute deep work sessions. There's a really great book out there by Cal Newport called Deep Work, and it's the idea of putting time aside where you are going to work on those things that require intense focus. And so we need to block the world out in order to do that. So the way I do it, 45 minutes of deep work, and then 15 minutes of whatever I want to do, stretching, getting out of my office, going and putzing around the house, just something to take my mind off, because I know I'm going to come back and most likely do another deep work session. So as we've recommended on last week's podcast, if you're not accustomed to deep work, it's a training.

So you may want to start out with 20 minutes or 25 minutes and work your way up to whatever space feels good for you. Now, when I'm doing deep work, I'm very clear on the result that I want to create during that time. I don't schedule deep work sessions that look like I'm going to work on my business plan, for example, because I know that the moment I sit down, my brain's going to be like, what do you mean work on your business plan? What are the specific results that you're going to create after this 45 minute session? Are you going to determine your goals for 2025? Are you going to look at your specific offers and create a marketing plan? I get very specific with what I'm going to create, and I teach this exact process inside the membership. And I've had so many members come to me and say, I went from being completely unproductive to being the most productive I've ever been, and creating the most results I've ever created from the process that you teach, and it's one that I personally use myself.

But when we think about environment, when we sit down and we have these sessions, we need to block out the distractions. We need create a bubble around ourselves that indicates no other information is coming in unless I need it in order to do my deep work. Now, another way that I create productive surroundings is what I call micro-environments. And I came up with this because I realized that I was able to do certain types of work in a more productive way in certain environments. And I started to pay attention to it. Where are you most productive when you're doing deep creative work? Where are you most productive when you're doing administrative tasks? What about creative brainstorming? And I began to see this pattern. So I told you some of what I'm going to share with you may be a little unconventional, but it works for me.

So don't necessarily do what I do, but take the framework and decide what environments work for you. So there was a time probably about two years ago where I got really sick. I had a bronchial infection, and towards the end I was feeling really tired, but I had the mental energy to work. My body was tired, but my brain was not. She was ready to get back to work. And so on a couple of days I worked from my bed, and I will never forget thinking, "Oh my God, this is the answer." I was so productive. I created so much content during those two days and I started to put it together. I was like, "Wow, you were in your bed. That's strange." And so I tried it again. The next month I had a bunch of content to create and I said, "I'm going to do it from my bed."

And there's something for me, I don't know what it is. I know there are people that say, don't ever work in your bedroom because of feng shui. But for me, for deep creative work, when I'm creating content, when I'm creating programs, it is one of my best micro environments for that kind of work. I will put my PJs on, I will crawl into bed and I will literally do two to three deep work sessions and bang out work. And I was thinking about why that is, and I do think there's something about that cocooning effect for me. If you put me in a big grand lobby, for example, I feel like my energy is spread out, it has more places to go. I know this sounds crazy, but bear with me. But when you put me in a very closer, tight space that's comfy and cozy, it contains my energy so that I can focus that into my work.

And so many times, and this usually only happens like four or five times a year when I'm really creating programs specifically, I will do it from my bed. I get some of my best deep creative work in my bed. Now my office is my micro environment that says, okay, this is CEO time. This is when you're having meetings, this is where you're going over proposals. This is where you are doing your coaching calls, your classes. And so this where I am right now recording my podcast. This is a very different micro environment that signals what kind of work I'm going to be doing.

Now, sometimes I love to go to a coffee shop, but coffee shops aren't the best place for me personally to do deep work. I get very easily distracted. I'm looking at everybody. I'm thinking about going up and getting another coffee. It's just not the best. However, I have found that for certain tasks, let's say administrative task or if I'm doing content review coffee shops, I can be very productive in.

And then for creative brainstorming where I'm just thinking about new ideas, I'm thinking about what we're going to be doing in the membership next year. When I'm thinking about the podcast and the different topics that I want to record about, I find that at my breakfast table, my breakfast room table, it's perfect because I have big windows. It's very inspiring. I can look out and let my mind wander and come up with new ideas. So micro environments have been really, really helpful in helping me to create a productive surrounding. The next thing I want to talk about is my tech setup.

Now, some of you all may be shocked with what I'm about to tell you. Some of you may be like I was, and you don't even know how powerful of a tool this is, but just recently I got a second monitor in my office. I had always worked with just one monitor. It was either my desktop or I was on my laptop. And I was telling my team at a recent meeting, I'm like, "You guys, why didn't any of you tell me about the power of a dual monitor?" It has completely upleveled the game for me. And I realized how much time I was wasting with one monitor because if you work on one monitor, you're going to appreciate what I'm about to share with you.

Any kind of small disruption slows you down. So you can be in flow but you're like, okay, I need to go back to that article. Okay, let me open up this tab. Now I've got to shrink one screen and pull the other page over a little bit so I can see both at the same time. That takes up space, it takes time, it has cut down the time that I spend switching between tabs, and shrinking, and expanding. My productivity has soared.

And I was so fascinated by this that I actually found a study that confirmed what was happening for me. And they said that 73% of businesses say that they spend over an hour per day on average just switching between different apps. But they found that people with dual monitors, their productivity increased by an average of 42%. How crazy is that? 42%. And I have found that I can do more in less time, number one.

A great example is every month I go into Asana, which I'll tell you about in a minute, that's our project management software. But I go in and I put in my calls for the membership that I'm going to be doing. And so used to, I would have to shrink my screen, pull up my calendar, figure out what date and time, and then I would have to go find Asana so I could put it in there.

Because we have it so that once I put it in there it goes into my calendar. And now I can just put my calendar on my screen to the left, look over, say, oh, the 20th at 2:00 PM, and then come back over to my other screen and just type it in. It seems like it's nothing, but I'm telling you all it has changed the game for me.

I told my team, I was like, "If y'all think I've been productive, just wait. Game on." And it makes things like side-by-side, comparisons easier. It's such a simple tool, and they're not that expensive. So if you're someone who's creating a lot of content, get a dual monitor and you can thank me later. Seriously. I remember seeing people with dual monitors and I just thought that they had some kind of fancy tech job, or they must be a gamer. No, it's everyday people like me and you who may be writing papers, or creating content, or doing a lot of admin work that need these monitors the most. You're welcome, ahead of time.

Another tool that I use in my environment is, as I was saying earlier, Asana. Asana has changed the game for me and my team. I know if it's an Asana, it is going to get done. And anytime I have a thought, "I need to do this," I will just open up Asana and I will put it in there. Now, if I'm in a deep work session and I have these kinds of thoughts, I don't want to get distracted by Asana because I'll go in there and it will immediately remind me of all the other things I need to do, and it just interrupts the workflow. So what I do is I tell Siri to remind me of the task.

And so at the end of the day, I can look at all of my reminders on Siri, and then place them in Asana. So Asana is great, but there are many different project management tools out there that you can use. It's finding the one that works for you.

Now, the power of routine, I think how we start our day is very important, we talked about that on the podcast last week. I love to journal. I love to do something delightful, whether it's playing a game, hanging out with Fonz, going outside, going for a walk, that changes day-by-day, depending on how I'm feeling. But I also love music. Music is a productivity tool for me, and I use different playlists for different things. So if I am doing some deep focus work, I don't want to listen to anything that has words. I will listen to lo-fi chill.

There are many different playlists on Spotify for focus, but the noise, the sound is very calming for me, and it allows my brain state to get into a very creative place. And so music is very important, and it's one of the first things that I do every day when I wake up, I turn on my Sonos, pick my playlist and get ready for the day ahead. But sometimes it's jazz. If I'm doing creative brainstorming, I will put on some jazz. I find it very inspiring, it boosts my mood. So I use music to enhance my mood and my productivity. The other thing that I do, it's part of our environment, is I get dressed. Unless I'm working from bed. But even then, I'll put on a beautiful robe, something that I feel really good in. And again, that doesn't happen often. That's four, five times a year I'll spend a day in bed creating.

But on other days, I love how I feel when I get up and I get dressed as if I were going to a job outside of my home. As if I were going to be seeing all of my clients, as if I were going to be meeting with my team. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm wearing stilettos. In fact, right now, I have on a very comfortable cashmere set. It's not fancy, but it's presentable. It's very comfortable. I can move in it. I can get up and stretch during my breaks, but I feel good in it. I feel like it represents me. But some days I'm like, okay, you need some confidence today. And I will choose an outfit to help me create that confidence. Some days I just feel like I need to be held. Do you ever have those days where you're like, I just some TLC, I'll choose an outfit like I have on today.

Something very comforting, something very warm, very cozy, and yet very presentable. That just works for me. Another way that I create productive surroundings is through scent shaping. That's what I call it. Scent can be very powerful. There are certain scents such as lavender that are very calming. Citrus tends to be energizing. And so you can begin to use scents to send messages to your brain about what's up. Here's what I need today. And so I have different scents in my office, and I'll come in here and I'll think, okay, what kind of day are we having? What do you need today? And I will light a candle accordingly.

The other thing that is helpful, and this goes back to deep work, and I should have mentioned this one earlier, but setting a timer. 45 minutes, let's go. Here's what you need to create in the next 45 minutes. And then lastly, I just discovered something that has been very helpful for me, and I plan to use this more, but I find for certain tasks that I work really well with other people. We have been meeting as a team in person more than ever. And I am loving it because as an entrepreneur, and if you are one that basically works solo, you know it can get lonely.

And not only can it get lonely, you can start to feel like you don't have brainstorming partners. You don't really have those people that you can bounce ideas off of and say, "Hey, how does this sound? What do you think of this?" And so recently, my community manager, Laura Hinton, she flew in to spend a couple of days with me because working on a really exciting project for the membership. And I was telling her, I'm like, if it's not the bed, it's this.

I got so much work done with her. And I told her, I'm like, "I think I just need to fly you in and have you sit beside me so that I can create a lot." Because there was something about that energy of coming together in the morning and having coffee, and laughing, and talking and then saying, "Okay, here's what we're doing. Here's what I want to create today. I want to get through this, these first five sections, and I want to have a rough draft by the end of the day." And her sitting there with me, her working on her things as I did it, and then running things by her, and not allowing me to get stuck in my own brain, because that's what can happen sometimes. We hit a block and we're like, ugh, I don't know where to go with this. And so that can slow us down.

But you can see having a person with you to say, "Okay, does this crazy? This is the idea. I love it, but is it just me?" And her saying, "Oh my God, I love this idea. I love where you're taking this." Then I'm like, "Okay," and I can keep going. I don't spend time just spinning in that. And so I was thinking about how to produce that if you don't have someone who lives locally or who can fly in. And one thing to consider, and it's something that I'm considering as well, is doing this via Zoom. Maybe once a month, getting together with someone on my team saying, "Okay, I just want you to be here. Work on your stuff, but be here, because I want to create this in this amount of time. And I would love if you would hold space for it if you'll be there for feedback." I loved the collaboration. I loved the interactive nature of that, and I found that it just helped me to be so productive. So there you have it, my friends.

That is how I create productive surroundings. And I also need to mention the importance of downtime. It's just as important as work time. I used to think that being productive meant working all of the time, but I found that taking regular breaks and having dedicated non-work time actually improves my productivity when I am working. It's why when I am teaching my philosophy on calendaring, I tell all of my members, I'm like, you need to put your downtime on the calendar first, your self-care, all of those things that you've been putting off, put it on your calendar first because if you don't, you will continuously push it to the back burner. And then you look at what time is left, and then you have to get really creative with where you're going to focus, what results you're going to create.

But by taking care of you, by giving yourself downtime, you have more energy, you have more creative ideas, you're having more fun, you feel more alive, and that only enhances your productivity. So when you're thinking about productive surroundings, think about also the importance of having downtime.

I have to say that this is about continuous refining. If I've learned anything, I've learned that as we grow, as we learn, so do our rituals and our routines. Next year, I may be doing this completely different, but there are some things that are tried and true. And for me that is the power of deep work, it's the power of knowing exactly what you want to create, it's the power of downtime. But everything else, I feel like for me, is always evolving. It's always being refined. But you got to start somewhere. Just start looking around at your current environment and think about, when am I most distracted? How can I solve for that problem? When am I most productive, and how can I create my surroundings to create more of that? And as you do, you'll learn more and more about yourself, and you'll also be creating more and more results in your life. Have a beautiful, beautiful and productive week, my friends. May you all joyfully hustle and create the life that you want. I'll see you next week. Cheers.