From Target store layouts, to city planning, to restaurant design, and all the way down to what you keep on your bedside table, what’s in your environment (or not) will impact your behaviors.

When it comes to curating and designing personal spaces, we often focus on the aesthetic and forget almost entirely about function.

If you’re like me, then you’re in a season of calling in as much rest, relaxation and peace as you can.

If you’re also like me, you have a tendency to work too much, doom scroll on your phone if you’re bored, and check your inboxes each time there’s a commercial break.

Where you keep your devices is part of your environment- it’s part of your personal space design and curation.

It can sound more like managing your devices instead of designing and curating your space, but I think it’s more than that.

Once you become aware of how your space shapes your behaviors and habits, you can begin to intentionally design & curate your space so you can have the experience you want.

Shopping at Target:

Target stores have a thoughtfully engineered layout designed to shape customer behavior. With no sharp corners and an open concept layout, Target shoppers will have to walk past the women’s clothing section in order to get to the groceries. From the clothing section, you’ll see the cosmetic section. From the cosmetic section, you’ll see home decor peeking it’s head around the not sharp turn of the store’s floor.

This is by design. The way an environment is laid out will impact behavior.

Restaurants:

Fine dining establishments will be full of interesting and detailed decor, swanky chairs, mood lighting, and a carefully selected playlist all to set the mood, ambiance and to encourage the behavior of: sit and stay a while. Order another bottle of wine. Stay for dessert. Whereas a locally famous hotdog stand, Gene and Jude’s, has no chairs inside. There is nothing in the environment that signals to customers “sit and stay a while.”

City Planning:

City planners have to decide where they want to invite people to hang out vs. where they want to discourage people spending time. From where the sidewalks are placed, to where water fountains and benches are placed, what is in the city and where will shape the community’s behaviors.

We can take these concepts and bring them into our homes. No matter how big or how small your space is, you can design and curate it to give yourself the experience you want to call in.

Designing & Curating Your Space for more rest and rejuvenation-
listen to the podcast episode here: