We tend to think of good habits as a matter of self-control. When researchers study people who score high on self-control, though, they often find that those people don’t resist temptation more successfully than others. They run into it less often, partly because of how they’ve arranged their lives.
That’s useful to know, because changing your surroundings is much easier than changing your character. If the biscuits aren’t on the counter, you don’t have to resist them.
Defaults decide a lot
Much of what we do each day isn’t a decision so much as a default. We pick up the phone because it’s in our hand, eat what’s in front of us, and open whichever app is on the first screen.
So instead of asking how to resist a bad habit, ask what would make the better choice the easier one, and then change your space until it is.
Make good habits easy to start
- Put cues where you’ll see them. A book left on your pillow is more likely to be read than one on a shelf.
- Prepare the night before. Fill a water bottle, or lay out your gym clothes.
- Keep tools within reach. If you want to write more, leave a notebook and pen open on the desk.
Make bad habits slower
- Move things out of sight. Put distracting apps in a folder on the last page of your phone, or remove them from the home screen.
- Add a little effort. Log out of social sites after each use, or keep the games console unplugged. A delay of a few seconds is often enough to interrupt a reflex.
- Give your phone a place. A drawer or a basket in another room works much better than a phone face-down on your desk.
Give a place one job
People associate places with what they usually do there. If your desk is where you work, eat, scroll and watch videos, sitting down at it doesn’t prompt any particular activity.
You don’t need a separate office to change this. A corner of the kitchen table can be where you write; a particular chair can be where you read. Over time, sitting there becomes a cue in its own right.
If you only have one desk, small changes can do something similar: a different lamp for focused work, a particular playlist, or clearing everything off the desk except the task you’re working on.
Your screens count too
Your browser and phone are environments as well, and usually busier than any room. For a step-by-step phone reset, see Reset Your Phone’s Defaults in 30 Minutes.
- Use a separate browser profile for work, without social media bookmarks or saved logins for distracting sites.
- Turn off notifications that don’t come from people. App alerts, news and promotions can all wait.
- Try grayscale mode on your phone during work hours. Colour is part of what makes apps appealing.
A one-week test
Walk through your home and workspace and look for things that make a habit you want harder, or a habit you don’t want easier. Make three changes: add one cue, prepare one thing in advance, and add one bit of friction. If a habit still won’t start, shrink it further with the two-minute start. Then see which of them you notice during the week.