An old coach of mine, Paul Dominguez, once taught me to pay attention to my environment; that my environment actually “calls forth” certain behavior.  You might notice this clearly in a living room that’s organized around the TV.  With the chairs, table and sofa all arranged around the TV, you’ll find it perfectly natural to reach for the remote the moment you sit down.  I think this is one of the main reasons that people have difficulty around honoring their commitments.  They make a commitment that calls for a massive change in behavior, like quitting smoking or watching less TV and taking up exercising, yet their surroundings—including their daily routines—call forth the old patterns of behavior.

Your old buddies continue to call you to come down to the club to watch “the game”, or you continue to find the remote in your hand every time you sit down in your living room.  What’s particularly sad about this is that many people beat themselves up about these breakdowns because they are blind to the pull that is coming from their environments.

If you really want to stick to your commitments for 2009 take a look at your environments; not just at home and at work, but in every single room of those environments.  Take a look at your routines and what you are drawn into as you engage in your routines.  If you often get pulled into the local bar on your way to or from the grocery store, then consider changing the time you go for groceries, or exchange that routine with your wife for something else that she does; unless of course she starts coming home drunk.

I’m looking at my environment here in Trinidad for the hidden stimulations that call forth wanted and unwanted behaviors.  I’m also being honest about some of those “unwanted” behaviors.

I wish you a Feng Shui 2009.