Our environment makes a big impact on the success or failure of building habits and reaching our goals.
By environment we mean the house or apartment we are living in, although it can include your city, your work or school and people you hang around too.
So we know that habits develop under 4 rules, the cue, the craving, the response, and the reward.
So let’s focus on the cues that trigger your habit for this video.
The more cues we see throughout our day, the more likely we are to take an action.
Let’s say you want to remember to take your vitamins.
A good cue or trigger is to place the bottle out in the open, besides your kitchen sink, or on your work desk.
Or if you want to run more, leaving your running shoes and gym clothes out in a place you’ll see them.
For other habits, it can be post-it notes, reminders on your phone, or any strategically placed item that reminds you to do the activity you want to do.
We want to make it obvious in our environment.
It could even be people.
For example, hanging out with groups that go to the gym makes you more likely to go.
This can even extend to the city you live in, does the city’s environment encourage the lifestyle you want?
Now, If you want to break a bad habit, adding friction in your environment helps.
If you want to eat fewer calories, Studies show that if you use smaller spoons or plates, you eat less.
If you don’t buy ice cream when you do your groceries, you’ll be less likely to eat it as a late night snack.
If you put your phone in the other room while you sleep you’ll be less likely to end up scrolling when you should be sleeping.
While these examples are simplistic, they illustrate the point that triggers in your environment underscore every habit – good and bad.
In order to change that habit, you need to make it easier or harder to do so we don’t have to simply rely on motivation.
So what triggers are in your environment, are they helping or hurting your progress?
Think of a few ways you can change your environment to make it easier or harder to do that habit. To track the progress of your activities, habits, and goals, try Rithm, Rithm helps you build any habits and reach any goal. Check it out for free in the app store today!
