Your mental attitude dictates whether you will be receptive and accepting of new things, ideas, and people. By having an open and positive attitude you can choose to view ANY life situation as an opportunity OR a problem. And, when you begin your day with a deliberate optimistic and realistic attitude, your physical environment, personal relationships, and business partnerships become a stepping stone for success.

Take a mental inventory of where you live, your work and with whom you associate?

For this article, let’s start with your physical environment and where you live.

Look around your home.

Is your environment comfortable?

Pleasing to your eye?

Is it a place you can relax and unwind from your day?

Does your home comfort and nurture you?

As you look around, are there things that are bugging you?

You might not realize how much your physical surroundings have a direct affect on sustaining a positive mindset.

For example:

Things that zap your energy in your physical environment such as paper clutter, things that need to be repaired or replaced; mounting unread magazines, clothes that haven’t been worn in a few years can be big stress and anxiety producers. In fact, clutter is a major energy drain for lots of people. Clutter is anything unused, unfinished, unresolved, tolerated or disorganized.

How about you?

Do you walk around your home mentally noticing things piling up and start to feel distracted and tired? What physical changes have you wanted to make in your home that keep being postponed? Have you been thinking about moving?

Imagine how much energy and attention you would free up that could be directed more productively if the clutter was decreased and eliminated. Imagine how your spirits might be lifted if your home environment was more nurturing and energizing.

Do you begin to see that your physical environment directly affects your success mindset?

Ok - so you might be thinking you’ll have to make some pretty big changes to create a more conducive environment, right?

Here are some suggestions you can implement immediately if moving to a different location is not immediate:

1. Handle any physical clutter. Sort it, file, it or dump it. If you have a lot of clutter, break it down into small projects that can be done over a short period of time. Do something every day to reduce the clutter.

2. Have repairs or need to replace stuff? Schedule specific times in your calendar to get them done.

3. Rearrange things in your home to shift the energy and mood. If you work from home and have your business in your bedroom. Move it to another location in your home. Make this a priority. Your bedroom is a place to end your day and prepare for sleep. Consider hiring a professional organizer to access your home for space-saving suggestions and systems. It might be one of the best investments you make (to help you eliminate clutter too!)

4. Freshen things up. For a small financial investment, you might add a splash of color by painting or adding some new pillows, changing your bedding, updating your CD collection, and bringing in some new plants.

5. Create a small space in your home to read, study or write that’s just for you - your own space. Make a daily habit of spending at least 30 minutes or more on reading or writing to stimulate new thoughts and ideas.