It's better to change your environment before trying to build new habits.
Change your surroundings first—the right environment makes new habits easier to grow.
Overview: The Myth of Unadulterated Willpower
Millions of individuals make pledges to improve their sleep, exercise, diet, and productivity every January. They buy diaries, download apps, prepare, and have faith that things will be different this time. However, many of these aspirations subtly disappear by February. It is not because people lack willpower or are lazy; rather, it is because they frequently attempt to form new habits without altering the circumstances that first influence their behavior.
There is a limit to willpower. Motivation fluctuates. However, your surroundings? That endures. And it is among the most potent—yet underappreciated—forces that drive all you accomplish. Your surroundings may be preventing you from making changes if you have ever felt like you are pushing a boulder uphill whenever you try.
The Science of Environment and Habits
Our behaviors are primarily context-driven, according to behavioral psychology and neuroscience research. We are repeating and pattern-oriented beings. A large portion of our daily routines, such as brushing our teeth, checking our phones, and brewing coffee, are triggered by our surroundings rather than being intentional choices.
The author of The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg, divides habits into three stages: cue, routine, and reward. A trigger, or anything in your surroundings, is the cue that starts the activity. You can alter the habit by altering the cue. However, the brain will probably revert to its previous behavior if the cue remains unchanged.
In a similar vein, Atomic Habits author James Clear contends that "you sink to the level of your systems, you do not rise to the level of your aspirations." The survival or failure of your new habit depends on your systems, including your surroundings.
Real-World Example: Alex's Story
Let us meet Alex, a marketing executive who wished to lose weight and is 32 years old. He began, like many others, with a gym membership, new exercise equipment, and a set of objectives: stop drinking soda, prepare meals on Sundays, and work out five times a week. It worked for a week. However, life gradually got in the way. After a long day at work, he would collapse on the couch and promise himself that he would go tomorrow. Rarely did tomorrow arrive.
Then something changed.
In a new city, Alex received a job opportunity. When he relocated, he made the decision to live in an apartment close to a local farmers' market and a gym. Walking became a natural part of his day because he did not have a car. For the simple reason that it was what was available nearby, his refrigerator contained more fresh produce than packaged food.
Alex began making better meals, drinking more water, and going to the gym on a regular basis without giving it any thought. The bad habits were inconvenient and the good habits effortless in the new setting. It was not superhuman discipline that made him successful. It resulted from creating an atmosphere that encouraged the desired behavior.
The Imperceptible Hold of Known Spaces
Consider your personal living area. Is your house centered around screens and snacks, or does it promote movement? Have you arranged your phone to promote calm and focus, or is it a gateway to distraction?
Invisible clues abound in our homes, workplaces, and digital environments. How frequently you pick up your phone depends on where it is placed. How frequently you eat snacks can be influenced by their visibility. Your workspace's lighting and noise level might have an impact on how productive you are.
Certain actions are reinforced by the familiarity of your surroundings. Your brain will identify mindless scrolling with social media if you have been doing it in bed every night. It may seem strange or uncomfortable to try to meditate in the same area. Many behavior-change specialists advise creating "zones" to link certain spaces to distinct habits, such as a phone-free dinner table, a reading nook, or a workout corner.
Designing for Achievement: Minor Adjustments, Significant Effects
To alter your surroundings, you do not have to relocate. Small changes can occasionally have enormous effects.
1. Take the Friction Off
Make the habits you want simpler. Do you want to read more? A book should be kept on your pillow. Do you want to eat better? Cut and wash fruits ahead of time, then store them in the refrigerator at eye level. Want to work out first thing in the morning? The night before, lay out your training attire.
2. Make Negative Habits Friction
Make the habits you wish to break more difficult. When working, put your phone in a different room. Get rid of time-wasting apps. Do not store junk food in your house. You are less likely to engage in a harmful habit if you have to make an effort to do so.
3. Make Use of Visual Indications
Sticky notes with affirmations, a progress tracker on your wall, or a whiteboard with your goals can all act as continual reminders. Take use of the fact that visual cues cause your brain to react.
4. Rethink Your Online Space
Even though we spend a lot of time online, we seldom ever consider our digital environment to be an environment. Unsubscribe from emails that distract you. Rearrange your app's layout so that just the most helpful ones are visible. Block time-wasting websites with browser addons. Your digital environment is something you created.
Social Environment: The people you spend time with define you
Your surroundings are social as well as physical. Your behavior is greatly influenced by the individuals in your immediate vicinity.
You will have a hard time quitting drinking if all of your buddies hang out at bars. It will be difficult to keep motivated if you want to get more exercise but the people in your group are couch potatoes. However, if you spend time with people who live the way you want to live, whether in person or online, you will begin to adopt their behaviors.
"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with," as Jim Rohn once stated. Who is in your surroundings, then?
Cutting people off is not always the best strategy to alter your social surroundings. It could entail looking for new communities, joining organizations that share your objectives, or following role models that model the habits you wish to emulate.
When Identity and Environment Harmonize
When your surroundings support both your identity and your habits, the most significant changes take place.
Do you want to write? Provide a writing desk, craft books, and a diary close at hand to create an environment that makes you feel like you belong. Do you want to stay healthy? Make the kitchen a place of sustenance rather than temptation.
Habits become a natural extension of who you are and cease to feel like duties when your environment supports your identity.
The Function of Environment and Culture
Zooming out, environments have the power to shape entire cultures. Think about the Blue Zones, which are places all across the world where people often live to be 100 years old. There are not many gyms or diet plans in these places. Rather, they are built to last: walkable neighborhoods, close-knit communities, locally grown food, and a more leisurely pace of life.
For example, people in Okinawa, Japan, cultivate gardens, share meals, and engage in "ikigai," or a feeling of purpose. Healthy habits are not only encouraged but also made obligatory by their surroundings.
Now compare that to fast-paced, convenience-focused cities where people are often isolated, stress levels are high, and food is processed. The environment involves both systemic design and individual willpower.
What If Everything Is Unchangeable?
Not everyone has the ability to drastically alter their home, change careers, or relocate. It is alright. Begin where you are.
Unable to quit your job? Reorganize your work area. Unable to pay for a gym? Establish a little exercise area at home. Can not prepare meals every day? On the weekends, prepare meals in bulk and freeze nutritious meals. Little adjustments add up.
Perfection is not the aim. Its purpose is to make the road to bad habits rougher and the road to healthy habits smoother.
Creating a Life That Encourages Personal Development
In the end, altering your surroundings is about creating a life that supports your desired self. It goes beyond grit and discipline alone. Design is the key. It all comes down to making the right decision the obvious and simple one.
Consider it similar to gardening. A seed cannot be made to grow by yelling at it or applying more pressure. You provide it with the proper soil, water, sunlight, and room. After that, you back off and let nature take care of itself.
That seed is you. And your soil is your surroundings.
Conclusion: Modify Your Environment, Modify Yourself
Before committing to another motivational speech or habit tracker, consider whether your surroundings help you become the person you want to be.
The fact is that you will continue to obtain the same outcomes if you maintain the same environment. However, change becomes not only conceivable but likely if you are prepared to modify your surroundings, your social network, your digital environment, and your everyday clues.
You do not require additional willpower. Better design is required.
Reorganize your area. Think about your regimen again. Make a new map. Because sometimes moving the furniture is the quickest way to change who you are.
About the Creator
Md. Atikur Rahaman
A curious mind that enjoys reading tales that evoke strong feelings and thoughts. Writing to inspire, engage, and provoke thought. Constantly seeking purpose in ordinary situations
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When I was 17, I met a man who delivered newspapers in the rain. Not in a casual, half-hearted way—but fully committed, every single morning. He would leave his house before sunrise, his coat soaked, shoes falling apart, and the wind cutting through him like a knife. Yet, despite the cold and wet, he smiled at everyone on his route. To a teenager like me, it was both confusing and inspiring. I remember the first time I saw him struggle with a bundle of papers that seemed almost too heavy for him. He slipped on the wet pavement, muttered something under his breath, and kept walking. When he reached the next house, he knocked on the door, handed over the paper, and smiled as the door closed. That smile was strange to me—it wasn’t pride or satisfaction, it was… calm. Almost peaceful. Curious, I approached him one morning. “Why don’t you take a day off when it’s so hard?” I asked, shivering in my hoodie as the rain soaked me through. 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Comments (3)
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This is such an insightful perspective. So often, we try to force new habits in the same old surroundings that trigger our past behaviors. Changing the environment first gives our brains a fresh start and makes it easier to stick to new routines. It's like planting a seed in fertile soil—it grows better when the conditions are right!"