Member-only story
Pay Closer Attention To This When Building Habits that Last
Whether you are trying to form a habit or break one, your environment is an element that can help or hinder your efforts.
In Atomic Habits, James Clear describes the four laws of forming habits:
- Make it obvious
- Make it attractive
- Make it easy
- Make it satisfying
Within the first law is a chapter called ‘Motivation is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More’ and over the years I have found this to be a fundamental truth especially when it is combined with the ‘Make it Easy’ law.
If you think about habits we all have that don’t require motivation or discipline like brushing our teeth or taking a shower every morning, you realized that they happen systematically whether “we feel like it” or not. They happen because we go to the bathroom and are conditioned to do those things there and all is at hand. Have you noticed that even in the most cluttered house, the bathroom is still organized efficiently? Everything has a place and is easy to access.
