How To Create An Environment That Drives You (And Stop Relying On Motivation)
The great influence of the environment on your life
🏷️ Categories: Habits, Motivation, Behavior.
In the 1990s, New York experienced a radical change in its crime levels.
For years, certain areas of the city were synonymous with vandalism, violence and insecurity. However, a theory called “Broken Windows” turned the tide. Criminologists James Wilson and George Kelling believed that small signs of disorder, such as broken windows or graffiti, sent a message of neglect and tolerance of crime, encouraging criminal behavior.
The theory was put into practice and this is what happened.
Under the direction of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, they fixed broken windows, cleaned up graffiti and fined for petty crimes like painting walls or jumping subway fences to get in for free. The result was striking: Crime plummeted.
Changing the environment sent a different message: order, cleanliness and care, which changed individual and thus collective behavior.
This shows that it is not always willpower or major reforms that change a situation, but the power of the environment. When we change the context, we influence people's decisions and habits.
Let's see how to take advantage of this idea to eliminate distractions and empower our habits through an environment that works in our favor.
Why motivation is not enough
We've all felt that spark of motivation at the start of a project or life change. But the reality is that that initial energy rarely lasts. This happens because motivation is a momentary emotion, and like any emotion, it fluctuates.
The problem is that society glorifies willpower.
Phrases like “If you want it, you can do it” or “You just need more discipline” reinforce the idea that motivation is the engine of change. But you've seen by now that trying to maintain new habits through willpower alone is like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom. No matter how hard you try, it won't move forward.
It's not that motivation is useless, it's that it depends on the context. For example, a motivated worker in a cluttered office full of distractions will see his or her productivity dragged down with every passing minute.
The environment acts as a powerful catalyst or inhibitor of change.
Keys to change the environment
1. The environment defines your habits
Like the case of the soldiers in Vietnam or the one we saw today in New York, our habits are closely linked to the stimuli around us.
You want to stop eating junk food but you have cookies, chips and candy in sight in your kitchen? Well, get ready for a losing battle. But if your fridge and pantry are stocked with fruits, nuts and more healthy foods, the right choices will come on their own. You don't have to decide, the environment does it for you.
That's the key.
2. The illusion of self-control
People who appear to have “tremendous willpower” are normal people; they have simply designed an environment that requires less self-control. Those who maintain healthy habits tend to have fewer temptations within their reach, so they don't spend energy resisting temptations; they don't exist.
Their environment leaves them no choice but to follow the right path (NIH, 2018).
3. The power of triggers
Your brain responds to the stimuli you throw at it.
Those little triggers in your environment that, without you even thinking about it, activate a habit automatically. Take, for example, the sound of your alarm clock. Do you have to think about what to do when it goes off? No. You just do it (Wood et al., 2005).
This is the principle of triggers. And, if you use it to your advantage, you can make your environment work for you. There are 5 types of triggers you can use for this, here are some ideas to get you started:
If you place your workout clothes near your front door before you go to bed, in the morning you'll instantly know it's time to go for a run.
Study, read or work at a fixed time, so you associate that time with the moment of concentration. It is very difficult when things do not have a temporal order.
Instead of having a TV or taking your cell phone to your room, put a book on your bedside table, so every time you are in bed, you will read.
The key is to design an environment that constantly reminds you of your intentions, so that the right decisions don't require conscious effort. If you reduce the things that require your effort, you will do what you should do without even thinking about it.
How to design an environment that facilitates change
Now that you know how the environment works, let's look at how to make habits easy to integrate so that they are so easy and attractive that you can't resist.
1. Make the good habit easy
You must make good habits effortless.
The key here is to eliminate any friction. If you want to start doing more sport and you're going to the gym, start small: go to the gym one day a week, even if it's for 30 minutes or 1 hour. It may not seem like much, but it's pure math, going from 0% to 100% is 100 times harder than going from 0% to 1%.
Start small.
Another way to reduce friction is what I discussed earlier with going for a run. Leave everything set up every night to go out as soon as possible. And if it bores you, listen to music or a podcast while you run. Or, if you need extra motivation, train with a friend.
Again, the environment determines how easy it is to get into the habit.
2. It hinders bad habits
The other side of the coin is to put obstacles in the way of bad habits.
If you want to stop looking at your phone constantly, leave it in another room or turn it off while you need to concentrate. One less temptation to resist.
If you're out of your mind shopping, delete your phone's shopping apps and cancel your credit card. If you go out shopping, don't take much more money than you need for what's on your shopping list.
If overeating is the problem, switch to smaller plates. You'll cut down on portions for sure and you won't forget your habit.
That's what psychology calls the “response cost,” or the effort it takes to do a behavior. By eliminating the credit card and with no money left over to buy a craving, you increase the response cost.
It is more difficult to perform the behavior.
3. Create automatic routines
Don't decide, let someone else do it for you.
There are applications like Forest or Freedom that block websites and apps that distract you for hours or permanently. You don't need self-control, you just can't do it. The response cost is maximum. The same applies to setting alarms to remind you of habits.
The point is to make the environment work for you.
4. Surround yourself with people who share your goals.
Habits are contagious.
If your social circle has unhealthy habits, you're likely to adopt them, too. Seek out communities that share your goals, such as reading groups or sports clubs. The social component is key to change on a personal level. In fact, a while back, a friend of mine started reading. You know what I did?
I used a trigger and he became a reader instantly.
The environment is so powerful that it can be the deciding factor between success and failure.
If you design it to your advantage, change won't be easy, it will be inevitable.
✍️ It's your turn: Now that you know that your environment plays a crucial role in your habits and goals, I wonder: what small changes could you make today in your environment to move you closer to your resolutions?
💭 Quote of the day: “People don't decide their future. They decide their habits, and their habits decide their future.” F. Matthias Alexander.
See you next time! 👋
References 📚
Corman, H., & Mocan, N. (2005). Carrots, Sticks, and Broken Windows. The Journal Of Law And Economics, 48(1), 235-266. URL
Kelling, G. L., & Wilson, J. Q. (2020, 20 julio). Broken windows. The Atlantic. URL
NIH, National Institutes of Health. (2018, marzo). Creating healthy habits. NIH News In Health. URL
Wood, W.de, Tam, L., & Witt, M. G. (2005). Changing circumstances, disrupting habits. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 88(6), 918-933. URL
These ideas are so useful and there are many here that have already enhanced my life. One out of the box one is when I first started learning piano. I placed my keyboard in the empty bedroom next to mine, thinking I would automatically turn that corner after making the bed, and practice for a half hour. When I faltered, I moved the keyboard into the room next to the kitchen. The keyboard was just on the other side of the open counter. While cooking a stew or something, I'd go around and play a tune or two on the keyboard. It was much more comfortable there with the sun shining through the windows. And I was able to increase my practice times and frequency.