The Path To Focus: Controlling Your Environment
Question; how big a part do you feel motivation and willpower play, when it comes to being focused and productive?
If you are like most people, you would have answered that willpower and motivation play a big part in the lives of productive people. At first glance, this statement seems obvious, I mean, if you can't motivate yourself to act, and you don't have the willpower to carry it through, then how on earth can you ever be productive?
Well I'm here to tell you today that motivation isn't all it's cracked up to be, and people who you feel have bags of willpower, are simply masters of their environment.
Naturally Born Lazy
In our Path To Focus series, we have so far looked at ways to start new habits that we know will benefit our lives. We have looked at the two minute rule, and also habit stacking.
Both of those techniques attempt to take advantage of the brain's tendency towards laziness, otherwise known as, the path of least resistance. In other words, we are trying to circumvent our own motivation, and put into place behaviours that will allow us to act they way we want to, with minimum effort.
Even though we know that our brains are always looking for the easy way out, it is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that it is only your brain that is lazy and unmotivated.
You look at people who are hyper-productive and laser focused and think things like; man, I wish I was as focused as that guy! It's just I find it hard to motivate myself.
All to often we view motivation as if it is this magic quality that you either possess or not. Some people are just naturally motivated, whilst others are lazy. However this thinking doesn't align with what we know to be the case. Which is, given half the chance, any human mind will take the easy way out.
So why does Jane seem able to motivate herself to get up at 5 a.m. every day to work on her business before she goes to work; whilst you struggle to get out of bed before two snoozes of your alarm?
What's the difference between you and her; is she just more motivated than you?
Surfing The Path Of Least Resistance
It turns out that motivation is overrated, rather people who seem super motivated, are in fact the ones who have worked out how to master their environments.
So for instance, Jane who we mentioned briefly above, gets up at 5 a.m. every morning and works for two hours on her business before she gets ready for her 9-5 job.
She does this because she goes to bed at 10 p.m. every night. Which she manages to do because she has cancelled most of her TV subscriptions, and has placed a website blocker on her computer, which stops her from browsing social media or going onto Netflix.
So Jane has taken away all temptation to stay up late and waste time. She also makes sure that she has a book by her bedside which she reads for half an hour before sleep, making sure she gets a good night's rest.
When she gets up and goes to her kitchen table in the morning. She finds a print out of the work she was doing the previous day sitting on top of her laptop, which guides her as to what work she should be doing that morning.
As she turns on her computer and logs into her 'work profile' which is set up to show her things that are relevant to her business and nothing else.
In other words, Jane has made it easier for herself to be productive. She hasn't left it to her motivation, or will power. Jane realises that will power is a short term solution, not a long term strategy. She knows that if she logs onto her normal profile, she'll probably log onto Facebook. Jane knows that if she doesn't use website blockers to restrict her time on social media, she'll spend hours a night on it, meaning she's far too drained to wake up at 5 a.m.
Her environment has been set so that her brain can carry on taking the path of least resistance, yet still act in a productive way.
Friction Controlling Your Environment
You may still be thinking; yes, but I still need motivation in order to change my environment!
Not so, you are confusing motivation with desire, if you have a desire to be something, then you can use that to manipulate your environment as time goes on. The best way to do this, is to add 'friction' in your environment.
So for instance you may want to get to the gym more often, therefore you would set up a scenario whereby you always packed your gym bag before you need to go. Then you would leave that by the front door.
If you are trying to lose weight, then you might buy some smaller dinner plates (this is a valid tactic and has been proved to work). Or maybe you get into the habit of leaving your wallet at home when you're just going out casually, so you don't buy unhealthy snacks.
Perhaps you want to give up smoking, so you start leaving your cigarettes in another room of your house, instead of having them within easy reach all the time, and you always wash and put away the ashtray.
Or maybe you want to stop fiddling with your smartphone all the time. Then get rid of all useless game apps and disable all notifications.
Whatever your desire is, you have to learn to become a master of your environment. The trick is to look at your surroundings when you are in a neutral state. By that I mean, don't try and change your environment at the time you need to, do it beforehand.
So pack your gym bag when the gym is closed, move your cigarettes whilst you are already smoking one. Trick your brain into thinking that what you're doing is no big deal, that way there is less cognitive load on your mind. In other words, you are surfing the path of least resistance.
Most of all, view this in terms of adding or subtracting friction. Make the things you want to do a little easier, and the things you want to avoid, harder.
Conclusion
People who you admire as being really motivated, have just worked out how to manipulate their environments.
Using willpower to do something you need to do, is a short term solution, not a long term strategy.
Friction is the act of making something a little harder or a bit easier, depending on what habit you want to start or stop.
Adding or removing 'friction' to your habits is the perfect substitute for motivation.
WHAT ARE THE THINGS IN YOUR LIFE YOU WANT TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF TO DO, OR NOT TO DO? HOW DO YOU THINK YOU COULD CHANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT TO MAKE THOSE GOALS EASIER TO ACHIEVE? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
The Path To Focus:
Title image: William Daigneault on Unsplash