Make a practical improvement to your home environment.
The easier you make something to do, the more likely you will sustain it in the long run.
Removing friction in your physical environment, even in subtle ways, can help you sustain a new habit more easily.
You can support almost any desired behavior this way. You could leave your walking shoes on a rack by the front door to subtly nudge you into action -- or move your food processor from a hard-to-reach cabinet to a more accessible storage area to make food prep easier. You can also reorganize your space to try to limit a habit you’d like to break. You could reorganize your entryway to make a place for the library books you tend to forget to return on time -- or swap a basket of reusable towels for your paper towels to help create less kitchen waste. If you usually wake up to your phone’s alarm, you could put a separate alarm clock in your bedroom to help prevent mindless social media scrolling first thing every morning.
These subtle environmental nudges work even when willpower is low, so they’re especially effective over time.
Challenge:
This week I want you to identify some minor alteration to your living space that will help support a new habit -- and make that change in your home. The possibilities are nearly endless, but you only need to pick one this week. You may identify something more substantial that you’d like to change in the future, but try to find a smaller project that you can complete in no more than an hour this week. (Make notes on any more extensive changes you’d like to make so you can plan for those later, too.)