NickVenturella.com 7-24-16

Your culture of productivity

July 24, 2016

As I thought about what you may be most interested in reading about today I pondered some of my own experiences in the last few weeks.It was my first time to Las Vegas for a business conference about a week and a half ago now. I know some people love Vegas, but I was thoroughly unimpressed with the vibe and culture there. While the conference was great, Vegas overall, for me, was not...just not my scene I guess.That got me thinking about you, and your scene. What is your scene? Do you know? Maybe you should.I mean, what kind of culture do you thrive best in?  It could be an actual geographic culture, a work/office/team culture or even a family culture.Maybe you've never thought about this before, but what I was thinking through while in Vegas was why it was overly draining on me to be there and why I felt like I had to work extra hard to achieve the same amount of productive output as I would have back home in half the time.So I thought about answering the question:  what culture/environment am I most productive in?Understanding the answer may help you produce your best work.Here's some of what Vegas brought to my attention...I discovered Vegas had too many stimuli for my taste. I was overly distracted and felt like I couldn't get away from the thumping music that is blasted throughout the hotels, casinos and even via speakers in the landscaping outside.I could barely hear a phone conversation let alone collect my thoughts.Back home I feel like I have the right amount of stimuli and the ability to sneak away to places I can organize my thoughts.  So that right there is useful information for me to understand about what kind of environment I will be most productive in.Another thing was that Vegas felt very fake, overly commercialized, sensationalized, materialistic and unfortunately shallow.  I love entertainment and shows, but all the in your face ads and messages bombarding you to spend your hard earned money on some high end unnecessary item(s) for the sake of status or the like is just not part of my value system. So I realized that being immersed in a culture that aligns more closely with my own values is important.Even your own family has a culture, but just because it's your own family doesn't mean it's the best culture for you to be most productive in.For example growing up I did not feel like I always fit into my family. I felt as though I was a creative person with all sorts of ideas and entrepreneurial pursuits that, from my perspective, didn't seem to fit the understanding or comprehension of those in my immediate family.Not until I finally went away to college to pursue my art degree did I feel like my creative spirit was an asset that simply needed the right culture to thrive.Understanding what kind of culture/environment I can be most productive in gives me more self awareness allowing me to consciously seek, find and set up shop in a culture where I can produce my best work.How about you. As always feel free to hit reply and share your thoughts about today's newsletter, or anything else you want to share or comment on.Thank you for your time and attention.Have a great week!