Transform your Environment
Dear Fabulous Traveler.
Willpower is overrated.
If you were to enter a military camp where screaming superiors constantly put intense pressure on you, you would easily find yourself submitting to the routine of a cold morning shower, making your bed, and daily physical training.
This would naturally transform you, but it would all be a result of the environment, not your willpower.
You don't have to motivate yourself to stick to this routine. Your transformation is the by-product of a specific context that requires and enforces it. Yet somehow, in the long run, the changes in your behavior maintain themselves.
Why?
Behavior Change Requires Environmental Change
When you start a new habit like exercising, you need willpower to get to the gym that first morning.
However, willpower is not sustainable as a source for maintaining habits. You can’t expect yourself to make a colossal effort through willpower every day.
Willpower is the pulse. The igniting spark. But environmental change is what makes the habit permanent. The goal is to change your environment so that maintaining the habit requires the least amount of willpower possible.
Someone has already cracked the behavior change challenge
Dan Ariely, advisor to Fabulous and prominent behavior economist from Duke University, said something that really resonates:
“Someone already mastered behavior change hundreds of years ago: it’s called religion.”
Give this some thought, Fabulous Traveler. Almost all religions have rituals to reconnect you with your spirituality.
Many religious people place symbols or objects around their house that remind them of their commitment to their religion. Some people even create a shrine in their home: an intimate place where they can connect with their spirituality and pray.
These traditions have stood the test of time because they are built on strong foundations related to human behavior change.
From religion to science
Two recent studies have confirmed what researchers have long suspected based on observations: physical objects in your environment can effectively trigger your habits, whether they are healthy or not. When a smoker sees a cigarette, it triggers a desire to smoke. What if you used this idea to reinforce healthy habits instead?
Physical objects: The golden coin study
The first research conducted on this subject was by the Center for Advanced Hindsight, the behavior economics lab where Fabulous is being developed. The experiment was looking to encourage individuals with low incomes to increase the amount of money they save.
In the control group, participants received weekly reminders via text messages about the importance of saving. In the experimental group, participants were each given numbered gold coins, one for each week of the trial. Their job was to put one coin into a jar every week they successfully put some money into a savings account.
People in this coin group saved the highest amount: twice as much as those in the control group! The golden coins acted as physical reminders. The study showed that written reminders are a great way to get you to start your habit, but physical reminders in your surroundings are even more effective.
The elephant statue
Where should you put your physical reminder for the best results?
In a study conducted at Harvard University. Participants were asked to complete an hour-long computer task. During the task, they learned that in addition to receiving compensation for participating, $1 would be donated to a food bank.
To ensure that the donation would be made, they would have to pick up a paper clip when they collected their payment.
Some students were told that an elephant statue would be sitting on the counter where they collected their payment, as a reminder to pick up a paperclip; others were simply thanked for their participation.
Almost all participants who received the elephant statues as a cue ended up grabbing a paper clip, compared to only half of those who didn’t receive a cue. This simple cue, and its proper placement, almost doubled follow-through.
Just like the elephant, your reminders should be timely and positioned in the exact location where you will accomplish your habit.
So what are we going to do this week, Fabulous Traveler?
We’re going to give you an Elephant.
Your Elephant
Based on our two insights concerning behavior change, let’s see how you can create an environment that will push you to build your exercise habit.
Picture this, Fabulous Traveler: you’ve just returned home in the evening when your Fabulous alarm tells you that it’s time to exercise!
You dismiss the alarm. You enter your room and you see a poster of one of your favorite athletes: it could be Usain Bolt, Muhammad Ali, or Rafael Nadal. The poster acts as a reminder for you to start your exercise session.
You're feeling pretty tired so you decide to check some emails first.
When you open your laptop, you see a motivational illustration as your wallpaper, further nudging you to exercise. This is the quote you read on it:
“Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction.”
- William James
As you read this, you decide to use the internet to find a local fitness group instead of reading emails like you'd planned. You find and join a Facebook running group. Just seeing other people’s post encourages you to join future runs with the group.
You’d like to start exercising now, but you’re just not feeling it. You close your laptop and lie down on your couch.
Your eyes stumble upon your Running Diary, left on your desk from yesterday. You started using it a few days ago, recording how you felt each day after exercising and making note of your next running goal. Seeing your notebook floods you with the memories of your last run and how great it felt!
This last nudge motivates you to get started.
Now’s when things get exciting! You open Spotify and start looking for new workout songs. Exercising should be a pleasure, and that’s why you spend some time making a playlist with new music.
Let exercise be an opportunity for wonder and discovery.
As you scan the room, your running shoes catch your eye because you took good care to put them in a prominent place. You’re even thinking of putting them on a pedestal. You’re also glad that you bought the colorful flashy ones. This makes them jump out at you and you’re less likely to miss them.
Your running shoes are in your exercise shrine. Despite having a small room, you decided to dedicate one corner to your exercise gear. You even decided to invest in a set of dumbbells for strength training.
Finally, you see your Exercise Totem! This totem is a small physical trinket that you associate with exercise and your new exercise ritual. The totem holds great meaning for you and provides a sense of accomplishment. Maybe it's the prized set of boxing gloves you used in college, or the medal from your very first race.
Now you start your Exercise Ritual: it takes less than a minute and it really gets you ready to move!
- Say: "I’m going to have fun exercising today!" while you look at your Exercise Totem. Focus on this for ten seconds.
- Start your favorite workout song. Choose one that motivates you to start moving.
- Put on your running shoes while being mindful about every movement. Don't do this absentmindedly.
Now you’re ready to roll!
Fabulous Traveler, do you realize how great it is to have an environment that’s constantly motivating you to exercise?
Now is the time to put this into practice.
This Week’s Plan
This week, you have a One-Time Action and a Goal.
Your one-time action
Create an environment that encourages you to exercise.
Look around your room: how could you design the environment in such a way that it contains multiple nudges to start exercising?
Let your creativity flow. Release the interior designer within you!
Here are some of our ideas from this letter to get you started:
- Hang a poster of your favorite athlete
- Start a Running Diary
- Join a local running club or team
- Create your own Exercise Shrine
- Find a meaningful physical object and make it your Exercise Totem
Your goal
Continue to exercise 3 times a week. Tap below to accept this new challenge.
If you chose running as your preferred exercise, listen to the Runner's Realm — the second one may be particularly helpful to anchor your commitment this week.
See you on the road, Fabulous Traveler!