People often choose products not because of what they are, but because of where they are.
If I walk into the kitchen and see a plate of cookies on the counter, I’ll pick up half a dozen and start eating, even if I hadn’t been thinking about them beforehand and didn’t necessarily feel hungry. If the communal table at the office is always filled with doughnuts and bagels, it’s going to be hard not to grab one every now and then.
Motivation is often overrated; the environment usually matters more.
WHY IT MATTERS: Your habits change depending on the room you are in and the cues in front of you.
Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior. Despite our unique personalities, certain behaviors tend to arise again and again under certain environmental conditions.
- In church, people tend to talk in whispers.
- On a dark street, people act wary and guarded.
In this way, the most common form of change is not internal, but external: we are changed by the world around us. Every habit is context dependent.
DESIGN YOUR ENVIRONMENT FOR SUCCESS
Every habit is initiated by a cue, and we are more likely to notice cues that stand out.
Unfortunately, the environments where we live and work often make it easy not to do certain actions because there is no obvious cue to trigger the behavior.
- It’s easy not to practice the guitar when it’s tucked away in the closet.
- It’s easy not to read a book when the bookshelf is in the corner of the guest room.
- It’s easy not to take your vitamins when they are out of sight in the pantry.
When the cues that spark a habit are subtle or hidden, they are easy to ignore. By comparison, creating obvious visual cues can draw your attention toward a desired habit.
Here are a few ways you can redesign your environment and make the cues for your preferred habits more obvious:
- If you want to remember to take your medication each night, put your pill bottle directly next to the faucet on the bathroom counter.
- If you want to practice guitar more frequently, place your guitar stand in the middle of the living room.
- If you want to remember to send more thank-you notes, keep a stack of stationery on your desk.
- If you want to drink more water, fill up a few water bottles each morning and place them in common locations around the house.
IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A HABIT A BIG PART OF YOUR LIFE, MAKE THE CUE A BIG PART OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT...
The most persistent behaviors usually have multiple cues. Consider how many different ways a smoker could be prompted to pull out a cigarette: driving in the car, seeing a friend smoke, feeling stressed at work, and so on.
The same strategy can be employed for good habits. By sprinkling triggers throughout your surroundings, you increase the odds that you’ll think about your habit throughout the day. Make sure the best choice is the most obvious one. Making a better decision is easy and natural when the cues for good habits are right in front of you...
Environment design is powerful not only because it influences how we engage with the world but also because we rarely do it.
Most people live in a world others have created for them. But you can alter the spaces where you live and work to increase your exposure to positive cues and reduce your exposure to negative ones. Environment design allows you to take back control and become the architect of your life.
Be the designer of your world and not merely the consumer of it.
Every habit needs a home.
A stable environment, where everything has a place and purpose, fosters habit formation...
If you consistently apply this strategy, each context will become associated with a specific habit and mode of thought.
Habits flourish in predictable circumstances like these.
- Automatically, you focus when seated at your work desk.
- Relaxation comes easier in a space specifically designed for it.
- Sleep is more effortless when it's the sole activity associated with your bedroom.
For stable and predictable behaviors, a stable and predictable environment is essential.
more tomorrow,
Hunter