Consistency Requires a Change in Environment

Nothing is more effective than consistency when it comes to making your work (and yourself) stand out.

It’s damn easy to be inconsistent. It’s convenient to show up or do the work on the days that you feel motivated. It takes no real effort to put forth your best self every now and then.

It’s damn hard to show up with your best and do the work every single day.

It’s another reason why the easy things in life aren’t the ones that make us proud.

In order for us to continue increasing our baseline and position for success, we must build our consistency.

Last week, we kicked off a three-part series on what 3 things every one of us must change in order to build stronger consistency.

• Change in Focus
• Change in Environment
• Change in Accountability

Let’s talk about your settings today.

Change in Environment

“In the long-run, your willpower will never beat your environment.” – James Clear, Atomic Habits

You can’t escape the place you’ve built around yourself. Author James Clear invests a lot of time discussing the importance of our environments on our habits & ability to succeed.

(If you haven’t read Atomic Habits yet, it should be on your priority list before end of year.)

Be it the layout of your home, the circle of your friends, or even how much cash you carry in your wallet, you must be intentional about the items surrounding you in order to succeed.

But it’s not often we think about things like…

• Carrying more cash instead of always putting purchases on a credit card so we never overspend our budget.
• Buying smaller plates to control our meal portions more accurately.
• Finding a gym that’s on the way to/from work so we have no excuse but to stop each day and train.

These are just a few of the small tweaks to an environment that can be a game-changer over the course of time. Our goal should be to evaluate our day-to-day, and design “tweaks” that allow us to simplify making good choices.

Want to be someone who wakes up earlier in the morning? Put your phone and alarm clock across the room from your bed, forcing yourself to get out of bed to turn them off.

Want to be someone who eats healthier throughout the week? Invest time Sunday to meal prep food so you can “grab and go” from the refrigerator instead of worrying about what to cook or order from Door Dash.

Want to be more productive during a workday? Turn off alerts for incoming emails, social media or texts. Build time blocks into your calendar for specific projects.

Design the environment around you to help you win instead of (what most of us do) just letting it be what it is. Make it work for you instead of against.

But your environment doesn’t stop with just “things.” It includes people you surround yourself.

You can’t expect to hangout with people who aren’t growing & still expect to thrive.

But that’s a topic for next week and how we need a change in accountability to succeed.

This week, I’d challenge you look at your current environment and see what you can modify to your advantage. Perhaps you need to…

• Set aside a drawer in the kitchen for everyone’s phones during dinner time so we can be more present.
• Get a web browser lock that prevents you from accessing social media during certain hours of the day.
• Move your nightstand out of arm’s distance from your bed so you have to physically get out of bed in order to reach your phone or alarm.

Make your surroundings work for you this week so you can win it. I’m cheering for you.