In a small city in Ohio, police offers make a monthly visit to all members of the city council to deliver a package of information for the upcoming council meeting.  One Tuesday morning, officers arrived at one council woman’s home to find the door ajar.  The officers knocked and called but no one answered and there were no cars in the driveway.  They stepped inside cautiously, took one look around, and then called in a report that the place had been robbed.  Cushions were overturned, food was dumped on the floor, a pile of papers and magazines had topped and slid across the floor and clothes were flung everywhere.Dispatch sent more officers and eventually tracked down the council woman, who abandoned her shopping trip to find her home . . . just as she’d left it.

She was a prominent member of the community, but she was mortally embarrassed that day by her out of control environment, and she felt she lost the respect of the officers and others who heard about it.

Maybe you keep up with your home, but you’re embarrassed about your car or your wardrobe.  Maybe your possessions seem to own you instead of the other way around.

If you’ve been following along with my blogs over the past few weeks, then you know that we’re on a quest for self actualization.  Right now we’re working our way through the factors in your life that can either limit your progress or propel it forward.  Today we’ll talk about your living environment.  You might wonder at this.  After all, what can your messy house have to do with whether you’ll attain self actualization?  Before I answer, take one more second to think about how you feel when you’re in the place where you spend the most time.  Whether it’s your office, your kitchen or your car, how do you feel when it’s cluttered and chaotic?  Do you find it limiting when you can’t find the tools that you need to complete your work?  Do you move piles of clothes off your bed before you go to sleep each night?

Let’s target some problem areas with this simple quiz.  For each statement, respond with “true,” “false” or “sort of”:

1. I hate my car.
2. I hate my house.
3. My house is always a mess.
4. I’m ashamed to have people stop by unexpectedly.
5. I hate my clothes.
6. I always threaten to get organized, but I never really do.
7. The neighbors’ house always looks nicer than mine.
8. My relatives judge me by shabby belongings.
9. I dress like a slob.
10. I have too much clutter.

These are all boldly negative statements, and I’m sure you can easily identify that the ideal answer to each is false.  Basically, the quiz is designed to quickly help you identify problem areas in your overall living space and physical environment.  Are you satisfied with your possessions, décor, organization and cleanliness?  If not, we’ll talk tomorrow about what you can do to turn that around.

Roger K. Allen, Ph.D. is an expert in personal transformation, leadership, and teams. His tools and methods have helped hundreds of businesses and tens of thousands of people transform the ways they work and live. To learn more, visit www.rogerkallen.com.