Environment
I already explained how all humans are lazy, by nature, and there’s no sense fighting that. Instead of fighting, though, we can use laziness to our advantage!
How? Design your environment so that
- Good things are the easiest to do
- And bad things are the hardest to do
Because you’re lazy, you’ll pick the easier task.
Make healthy food cheap and easy to find, and unhealthy food expensive and hard to find. Somehow, politicians around the world keep getting this one reversed …
That’s the whole tip! Simple to explain … but not so simple to execute.
It can be hard to find the right change to your environment. People are often unwilling to change much. We like staying in our comfort zone. We like saying stuff like: “I have always done it this way, so why change now?”
Hopefully, this guide can incentivize you to try this method just once. Then you see how powerful it is and use it time and time again.
Some common ways to design your environment:
- Place things close by (for easy access) or further away (if you want to break the habit of using them).
- Don’t buy things altogether. This is the strongest one. You automatically have this benefit if you don’t have a lot of money.
- Change your furniture. I once noticed I sat on a chair for hours a day, working. So I raised my table, threw out the chair, and now I stand for hours a day. Simply because that is how my environment is setup.
- My most important requirement for software (on my laptop) is that it’s ultrafast, always. This removes any barrier to opening and using the software. Since I did this, no day has passed without making a backup, for example.
But the possibilities are endless. Any time you notice a bad habit, come up with creative ways to change your environment. It might take a few tries to find something.
I mentioned my habit of drinking lemonade all day earlier. Even though I removed that, I still ate lots of tiny sweets and candy during the day.
I couldn’t position myself far away from the kitchen. I wasn’t in control of the food supply in the house (as it was my parent’s house). What could I control?
I started brushing my teeth (and using tooth picks) at a fixed (earlier) time each day. Once you’ve brushed your teeth, you really don’t want to eat something right after it. It tastes bad. And nobody likes brushing their teeth multiple times in a short time span.
Simply remember the main rule: make the good things extremely easy to access, and the bad things extremely hard to access.
Reconsider all parts of your environment. And change them accordingly, based on what you can easily control or change.
Now you know the core elements of getting stuff done. Form good habits, destroy bad habits, and design your environment to make all of this second nature.
Let’s look at more specific tips and tricks about habits and environment.
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