Become an Exceptional Interior Designer

Let me start by saying I can't decorate my closet, much less a house, worth shit.  That is not one of my skills. I don't understand it. I certainly love being in a well thought out beautiful room or space with great feng shui, but I'm not the one matching those throw pillows with the comforter, or putting a huge weird rug in the center of the room, or whatever else it is cool people do to design cool rooms.

But, I can and will say, I'm on my way to becoming an exceptional interior designer.  Not in the sense of the profession, or the person who creates a space or designs a house. I'm talking about the interior of the person. The mind. 

We are all the designers of our own life. As Charles F Haanel says in The Master Key System, "Our world within creates our world without." Meaning our mind and our thoughts and what we focus on the most, create what happens in our "reality." James Allen says in As A Man Thinketh, "Mind is the master weaver, both of the interior garment of character and the outer garment of circumstances."  The coolest thing about this life is that you, only you, get to decide your thoughts, your perspective, your ideas. Your environment, the people you closely surround yourself with, what you listen to, what you read, will have massive effects on your thoughts. But still, it is you, only you, who gets to decide what you focus on and believe. You get to design.

Don't you like my artistry!?

This little two word circle pictured above has really become clear to me lately in all I've read/listened to/discovered. Thoughts <--------> Environment. Your thoughts create your environment and your environment in turn creates your thoughts. It's a wonderful circle.  The fantastic thing is, if you don't like either one of them at any time, you can drastically change them. By changing either one, you will begin to change the other. You don't have to move your physical address to change your environment either. A few years ago I started to drastically change what I was pouring into my mind. I started to read books like The Travelers Gift by Andy Andrews, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, The Magic of Thinking Big by David J Schwartz, and hundreds of others like them. I started listening to Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Earl Nightingale, Zig Ziglar, Mel Robbins, etc. And all on Youtube, for free! This was me changing my environment, without moving, all from Central Minnesota. With technology the way it is now you don't have to be with the people to be effected by them, you can listen to and read their ideas from anywhere in the world. Pouring all their thoughts and ideas into my mind drastically changed my thoughts, and soon my environment began to change. What an exciting and crazy circle! Better relationships began to form, awesomer adventures started to happen, I became a more valuable human, Alissa started cooking insane flavortown food, and I got healthier and in better shape. I came to the realization that I am in charge of my life. And with that, I simply became happier.

Coaches often ask their athletes, "What are you doing when no one is watching?" In this case, I think a good question is, "What are you saying to yourself when no one else is listening?" What image are you creating about yourself, to yourself? You get to choose who you believe you are. Remember what Jen Sincero said, "We're all living in our own self created illusion."  Who do you want to be in your illusion? Who are you designing yourself to be? Someone who lives with limits, or is limitless? Someone who lacks, or is abundant? What you consistently tell yourself and believe about yourself in your world within, will soon show up in your world without.

It is and will always continue to be an ongoing process of designing my life. I feel like I'm only fresh out of interior design school and in my first year out in the field. But the key is that I've consciously started.  We've all been thinking our whole lives, but there comes a point when you realize that you are a designer, the designer of your life. When you step into this belief that you are a powerful interior designer, that's when you start to do something about it. You design each day to align with your desires, and you create the life you're meant to live.

You have the skills, you are extremely talented, now go kick ass and design your life.


Be Awesome.


-Tom Spaniol

"It is our attitude of mind toward life which determines the experiences with which we are to meet; if we expect nothing, we shall have nothing; if we demand much, we shall receive the greater portion."
-Charles F. Haanel