If you have ever wondered whether spending time setting up your environment so that you can effectively do the things you want to accomplish is worth it, I have an answer for you. It is.
I have spent years writing about personal discipline, accountability, and the importance of making and keeping commitments. I believe strongly that we are responsible for our own choices and that developing the ability to do difficult things, especially when we do not feel like doing them, is an essential part of personal growth. However, I have learned that willpower needs a lot of help.
Consider my efforts to return to running. Every morning, I have a choice to make. I can get up, put on my shoes, and go outside, or I can find a perfectly reasonable excuse for doing something else. The problem is that I am exceptionally good at coming up with those excuses. I can rationalize almost anything when I am tired, sore, or distracted by the demands of the day.
Now consider what happens when I prepare the night before. My running clothes are ready, my shoes are by the door, I have already selected my route, and I have decided exactly when I am leaving. I have effectively removed several decisions that might otherwise interfere with my intentions. I still need willpower, but I have made its job considerably easier.
I recently read an article by Linda Wang in the Association for Psychological Science Observer that examined research on the relationship between personal responsibility and the environments in which we make decisions. The research challenges the assumption that individual determination alone is sufficient to create lasting behavioral change. Our surroundings, circumstances, and available choices have a significant influence on what we actually do.
I find this fascinating because we tend to treat preparation as something separate from discipline. We admire the person who overcomes tremendous obstacles through sheer determination, but we rarely give the same recognition to someone who intelligently arranged their circumstances so those obstacles never became a problem.
Yet which approach is more likely to produce consistent results?
If you want to eat healthier, spend some time organizing your kitchen. If you want to read more, place books where you will see them. If you want to accomplish meaningful work, create a place where distractions are difficult to access. If you want to exercise consistently, eliminate as many obstacles as possible between waking up and getting started.
Of course, not every circumstance is under our control. Some obstacles are imposed by responsibilities, resources, or systems that we cannot easily change. However, within the areas where we do have influence, there is tremendous value in deliberately creating conditions that support our goals.
This is one of the principles I have come to appreciate about The 365 Commitment. Planning my day each morning is not simply about deciding what I should accomplish. It is about arranging my circumstances so that I have the greatest possible chance of success. The more I can prepare in advance, the less I have to rely on motivation when the difficult moments arrive.
I think we sometimes make personal improvement unnecessarily difficult because we believe that struggling is somehow proof of our commitment. Perhaps there is greater wisdom in recognizing that the struggle itself is not the objective. Accomplishing what we committed to do is.
Willpower is still necessary, and I intend to keep developing mine. However, I am increasingly convinced that one of the best ways to exercise discipline is to spend time designing an environment where discipline has a fighting chance.
Make the right thing easier to do. That preparation may be one of the most important commitments you make today.
