Put things in your own way...

A concept I heard in Ali Abdaal's audio book Feel-Good Productivity really stuck with me. It's so sweet, simple and effective.

The idea is this: it you want to start a new habit and make it stick, set up your environment to be on your side.

I think that by nature I kinda do this already.

I want to get better at drawing, so there are pen-pots in (almost) every room of my house. On the kitchen table, next to my bed, on the coffee table in the living room - you get the picture.

When I walk into my bedroom I am forever kicking the lil weights on my bedroom floor. They are not hidden in a cupboard or tucked under my bed - they are ever present.

My favourite gouache paints live in front of me on my desk, and my camera doesn't have an actual home - it too sits on my desk, in my way. And honestly, It totally reminds me to take work-in-progress pics that I would otherwise forget.

Now, I'm no psychologist, but I know that we can be lazy little beings and forgetful ones too - out of sight out of mind is oh so true.

And, come to think of it, this works the other way too... The phone should be in a locker - (which it isn't....yet), and the wine stays on the shelf in the local store - where it belongs.

It's a really nice concept to think about. What are you trying to achieve? And how can you be on your own side by putting things in your own way?

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