5 Tips to Redesign Your Surroundings and Live Better

Your Space Is Shaping You — Whether You Notice It or Not

Most of us spend enormous energy optimizing our habits, routines, and mindset — but rarely stop to ask a simpler question: what is the room I'm sitting in doing to me right now? According to behavioral scientist and engineering professor Leidy Klotz of the University of Virginia, that question deserves far more attention than we give it.

In his book In a Good Place: How the Spaces Where We Live, Work, and Play Can Help Us Thrive, Klotz draws on cutting-edge behavioral science to argue that our physical surroundings are not neutral backdrops to our lives — they are active participants. They shape our psychological well-being, influence our identities, color our memories, and either deepen or erode our relationships. The good news? With a little intention, we can redesign those surroundings to work for us rather than against us.

Below are five powerful insights from Klotz's research that can help you transform the spaces where you live, work, and play — and in doing so, transform your quality of life.

1. Practice Space Before Screen

We live in an age of constant digital distraction. Smartphones pull our attention inward — toward feeds, notifications, and messages — while the physical world around us fades into the background. Klotz acknowledges that fighting this reality is often a losing battle, but he offers a smarter approach: work with it.

Instead of viewing your phone as the enemy of presence, treat it as a cue. The next time you find yourself instinctively reaching for your screen, use that impulse as a trigger to first look up and notice your surroundings. What does the light feel like in the room? Is there clutter making you feel anxious? Is there an object nearby that brings you joy or a memory worth savoring?

One of Klotz's friends adopted this practice after reading an early draft of the book. She noticed that every morning, the moment she woke up, her hand went straight to her phone. By using that habitual reach as a prompt to first observe her bedroom — the morning light, the arrangement of objects, the feeling of the space — she began her day grounded in the physical world rather than immediately lost in the digital one. Over time, small moments of spatial awareness like this can compound into a genuinely richer experience of daily life.

2. Understand That Space Shapes Identity

The objects we place around us are not just decorative — they are autobiographical. A family photograph, a travel souvenir, a childhood book on a shelf: each of these items sends a subtle but persistent message about who we are and what we value. Klotz's research shows that our environments act as mirrors, reflecting our identities back to us and reinforcing our sense of self.

This means that a cluttered, chaotic, or impersonal space is not just visually unpleasant — it can subtly undermine your sense of who you are. Conversely, a space that is intentionally curated to reflect your values, memories, and aspirations can reinforce a positive, coherent sense of self every single day.

Take some time to audit your most-used spaces. Do they feel like you? Do they reflect the person you want to be? Even small changes — displaying a meaningful object, removing something that feels wrong, adding a plant — can have a surprisingly powerful effect on your psychological grounding.

3. Design for Relationships

Space is inherently social. The layout of a room, the arrangement of furniture, and the availability of shared spaces all influence how much we connect with the people around us. Research consistently shows that the physical design of homes and neighborhoods can either foster or inhibit social bonds — sometimes more powerfully than we realize.

Klotz encourages readers to think of their spaces as relationship infrastructure. Are your common areas arranged in ways that invite conversation, or do they point everyone toward a screen? Does your home have a spot where people naturally gather? Even something as simple as rearranging chairs to face each other, or creating a welcoming entryway, can shift the social dynamics of a space in meaningful ways.

4. Let Space Hold Your Memories

Our environments are deeply tied to memory. Certain rooms, smells, and arrangements of objects can instantly transport us back in time — and this is not a coincidence. Spatial memory is one of the most ancient and robust forms of human cognition. Our brains are wired to attach emotional and autobiographical meaning to places.

Klotz suggests that we can be more intentional about this connection. Creating dedicated spaces for meaningful rituals, preserving objects that carry personal history, and designing environments that honor important life chapters can make our surroundings feel like a living archive of who we are. Rather than allowing spaces to be generic and interchangeable, we can invest them with meaning — and draw on that meaning when we need it most.

5. Small Changes Create Big Shifts

Perhaps the most liberating insight in Klotz's work is that you don't need a major renovation or a designer budget to benefit from thoughtful spatial design. The research is clear: small, deliberate changes to your environment can produce significant improvements in mood, productivity, creativity, and overall well-being.

Adding natural light, reducing clutter in a single drawer, placing a meaningful object on your desk, or rearranging a corner of your living room — these are not trivial acts. They are acts of intentional living. When you treat your space as something worth designing, rather than something that simply happens to you, you reclaim a powerful tool for living well.

Start Where You Are

Leidy Klotz's core message is both simple and profound: your surroundings matter. They matter for your mood, your memory, your sense of self, and your relationships. And unlike many forces that shape our well-being, our physical environments are something we can actually change.

You don't have to overhaul your entire home overnight. Start with one room, one corner, one object. Notice your space before you check your phone tomorrow morning. Ask yourself whether the places where you spend your time are helping you become who you want to be. The answers might surprise you — and the changes that follow might change your life.

• Notice your surroundings before reaching for your phone each morning to build spatial awareness.
• Audit your spaces to ensure they reflect your identity and values.
• Arrange shared areas to encourage connection and conversation.
• Preserve meaningful objects that anchor your memories and personal history.
• Make small, deliberate changes knowing that even minor adjustments can have a lasting impact on your well-being.

Your best life might not require a new habit or a new mindset. It might just require a better look at the space you're already in.