Habits: Why our environment matters

 

Ever wondered how some people just seem to have good habits, they manage to run three times a week, eat a healthy salad for their lunch, stay connected with their friends, practice the piano every day…. you get the picture.  In my last habits blog I wrote about the importance of choosing something so small that it sits just above doing nothing at all and the fundamental importance of consistency over intensity.  This time I want to think about how we can set our environments up for success.

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear, suggests that “you do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.”  What this essentially means is that our environment plays a significant role in shaping even the most minute of human behaviour. 

In terms of creating a new habit Clear suggests 4 laws that increase the likelihood of theses habits sticking around

·       Make it obvious

·       Make it attractive

·       Make it easy

·       Make is satisfying

Make it obvious

This one is basically what it says on the tin.  As humans we tend to follow the path of least resistance – and this makes sense from an evolutionary perspective – why waste energy on taking the most difficult path.  And this plays out in so many ways every day, in the supermarket we tend to pick up whatever is at eye level, if we come into the kitchen hungry and see a delicious cake, we are very likely to cut ourselves a slice without even considering what might be a healthier alternative.      

One way we can increase the odds of creating a new habit is to make it so obvious that it is almost impossible to avoid.  If you want to eat more healthily put your fruit in plain sight. If you want to start running regularly lay your clothes out the night before and put your trainers by the door.  These small changes will significantly impact on the possibility of success

Make it attractive

Did you know that dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure but also when you anticipate pleasure.  And when dopamine increases so does our motivation level.  Now this can work both ways, we can imagine eating the yummy slice of cake and this will increase our dopamine and therefore our motivation to do exactly that.  It is also why Clear says we need to make our habits as attractive as possible because remember it is the expectation of a reward that motivates us to act in the first place. 

So how do we increase anticipation and therefore motivation.  It’s 6am on a cold January morning as I write this blog and there is nothing attractive about going for a run in the dark.  It is cold and damp outside and warm and cosy inside. Clear suggests that the answer to this is temptation bundling.  This is when we combine something we want to do with something we need to do.  For running this might look like combining your run with listening to a new exciting podcast or that new Jack Reacher you were given for Christmas.  The premise of this is pretty simple we are more likely to find something attractive  (running) if we get to do one of the things we love at the same time (listening to Jack Reacher). 

Make it easy  

Often when we are trying to establish new habits, we set ourselves very grand goals – I am going to run for 20 minutes every evening, I am going to practice mindfulness for 30 minutes every day… and while these intentions are admirable the chances of getting these habits to stick is actually very difficult.  

Why? Because when we start with something that requires high levels of effort, we also need high levels of motivation and willpower.  This is tricky because willpower is so inconsistent, the more we use it throughout the day the weaker it gets.  Willpower to avoid the cake, willpower to be nice to our boss, willpower to sit and finish our blog …. Get to the end of the day and there is no willpower left to get us out the door on our 20-minute run.   

So, what do we do.  We pick something so small that we do not need any willpower or motivation to do it.  Instead of choosing a 20-minute run we choose a 3-minute run and instead of committing to 30 minutes of mindfulness we commit to 3 minutes. Humans more often than not follow the law of least effort – meaning that when our chosen activity requires high levels of effort, we are much more likely to choose the easier option. So always choose small to start and when you master consistency of small you can start to think big.  

Make it satisfying

This is logical, we are much more likely to repeat a behaviour when the experience is satisfying.  I like eating minty gum because it makes my mouth feel fresh, I like putting cream on my face because it smells nice and it makes my skin a little softer. 

If we look at these two examples, they have one thing in common - the reward is instant.  My mouth immediately feels fresher and my skin immediately feels softer.  And this is relevant because as Clear explains the human brain has evolved to prioritize immediate rewards over delayed rewards.

In practice this means, for a habit to stick, we need to create some form of immediate reinforcement.  This reinforcement can be super simple, you want to wash your hair more often so you buy a shampoo that leaves your hair smelling great, want to start bringing a homemade sandwich instead of buying one from the bakery - each time you manage to do this you pop the money you would normally spend on a sandwich in a jar and watch the money accumulate.

Finally…

Habits matter. But our environment also matters.  By paying attention to our environment, we can build a better system and this system has so much power to support and shape the habits we wish to create

Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes: Remarkable Results. James Clear