You probably already know that motivation is fleeting. We have a ton of it when we set “big picture” goals—get in better shape, eat healthier, improve our education, get more sleep—and assume that it will always be in abundant supply because we’re so excited about what we want to achieve.
But then the time comes to take specific action, and we often find that our previously overflowing well of motivation seems to have run completely dry.
This is such a common occurrence because thinking and decision-making requires a lot of mental energy. It’s far more efficient for our brains to follow patterns (engrained habits) or make quick decisions based on what seems easiest and requires the least amount of energy from our bodies in the current moment.
That doesn’t mean motivation is worthless. It spurred us to set a goal in the first place, after all.
What it does mean is that we shouldn’t expect it to help us make the “right” choice (based on our goal) when the time comes to take specific action. Instead, we need a method that makes choosing the right actions easier or more convenient and the wrong actions harder or less convenient.
One such method is intentionally managing our environment.
In this case, environment means everything and everyone in close physical proximity as well as actions/habits that are less in-the-moment.
Managing it might look like any of the following:
- Keeping foods that you don’t want to eat out of the house. It’s much harder to mindlessly snack on a bag of chips or box of cookies after a hard day of work or before bed if you have to first go to a grocery store to buy them.
- Grocery shopping soon after eating a meal or snack. If you really want to follow the previous habit but have a hard time avoiding the cookie aisle when you’re at the store, shopping when you’re not hungry will make sticking to only the foods on your grocery list much easier. (Obviously, cookies shouldn’t be on the list for this to work. 😉)
- Stashing healthy, non-perishable snacks in easily accessible locations. Life will get busy, and there will be times when you need a quick snack. Having a small baggie of nuts, single-serving container of protein powder, or stick of beef jerky in your desk drawer will make it easier to avoid the chips in the vending machine. Alternatively, knowing that there are pre-cut veggies and a container of hummus in the refrigerator will make it slightly easier to avoid buying a less-healthy snack at the gas station on the way home from a long day.
- Sleeping in your training clothes and putting your shoes next to the bed. When your alarm goes off, discipline yourself simply to put on your shoes immediately. Even if you sit on the edge of the bed for a few minutes afterward, you’re still more likely to make it to the gym than to hit the snooze button a few times too many.
- Keeping training equipment within sight. Put a kettlebell, dumbbell, jump rope, etc. in a spot that you walk past a couple times each day. Performing a few reps of something every time you walk past will add more activity to your day and likely inspire you to schedule time for a longer training session later.
- Turning off your phone at a specific time and storing it out of sight. If you tend to get less sleep than you’d prefer because it’s too easy to mindlessly scroll through the news or social media, turning your phone off an hour or two before bed and stashing it in an inconvenient spot will help to break the habit. As a bonus, your spouse, kids, and/or pets will likely appreciate the extra time and attention available to them.
- Spending more time with active people. If your three most active friends love to golf (or garden, train jiu jitsu, dance, play basketball, etc.), what do you think you’re going to talk about and do when you get together?
Putting it into practice
Pick a single habit that you’d like to improve over the next few weeks, and spend some time considering the environment and circumstances that typically surround you when you make that less-than-optimal decision.
Then ask yourself a few questions:
- What would a better habit (e.g. action) be?
- What can I change in my environment to make automatically doing the bad habit harder?
- What can I change to make doing the better habit more obvious and easier?
Now go change that environmental condition while you have the motivation!