Environment Design
The practice of deliberately shaping your physical and digital workspace to reduce friction for productive behaviors and increase friction for distractions.
Also a topic in the curriculum: Environment Design.
Linked Lessons
Input curation
Audit Your Information Sources in Google Sheets
The reference filing system
Build a Searchable Reference System in Notion
Your environment is always communicating
Map Environmental Signals in a Notion Database
Design for your most important activities
Map Your Priority-Environment Gaps in Notion
Dedicated spaces for dedicated functions
Map Your Space-Function Overlaps in Notion
Visual simplicity reduces cognitive load
Document Your Visual Workspace Audit in Notion
Accessibility of frequently used items
Map Your Digital Tool Access Time in Notion
Remove what does not serve the current function
Conduct a Digital Workspace Removal Audit in Notion
Lighting affects cognition
Track Your Workspace Lighting Conditions in Google Sheets
Sound environment management
Track Your Sound Environment Patterns in Toggl Track
Temperature affects performance
Track Your Temperature-Performance Pattern in Google Sheets
Ergonomics for sustained work
Document Your Ergonomic Baseline in Notion
The digital workspace environment
Audit and Declutter Your Digital Workspace in Notion
Digital minimalism
Audit Your Digital Environment in Notion
Environment as behavior trigger
Create a Trigger Audit Template in Notion
The reset ritual
Create a Timed Reset Checklist in Todoist
Environmental experiments
Track a One-Week Lighting Experiment in Toggl Track
Portable environment elements
Design Your Three-Layer Portable Environment in Notion
Shared environment negotiation
Draft a Shared Space Agreement in Notion
Seasonal environment adjustment
Build a Seasonal Environment Tracking System in Notion
Environment and identity
Map Your Workspace Identity Gaps in Notion
A well-designed environment does the work for you
Map Your Environment Stack in Notion