Most people who come to me for help begin with a version of this line:
“I know what I need to do, but I’m not doing it.”
Most people think that the biggest barrier to what they want to do is time.
But when pressed, most people admit they can create the time.
The biggest barrier to doing the thing you want to do is finding or creating the right space for the task.
Side note: If you still think the barrier is time, consider that time is simply a form of space.
Time is space in your schedule.
It all comes down to space.
Many of the reasons we get stuck in doing what we know we need or want to do fall away when we are in the right space for the task.
Environment is More Potent Than Willpower
First principles: environment is more potent than willpower.
As I often say to my clients:
There’s a reason you eat in your kitchen and pee in your bathroom, and not the other way around.
(I’m sure I could have found a less crude example, but this is what came out the first time I explained this concept, and it stuck.)
A Case Study: Sustaining Fitness First
Since 2013, I’ve had a ritual I call “Fitness First:” my workout is the first activity of my day. I haven’t missed a day in almost 10 years.
From its start, my Fitness First routine has typically involved going to the gym — or another facility designed for the type of workout I’m doing. It may be the trapeze rig, the pool, a yoga studio, or some other boutique class studio.
Regardless of the details, the big picture is the same: I’m going to a place designed for the activity I want to do.
A gym is an environment designed for a specific type of task, in the same way that a kitchen is an environment designed for a specific type of task.
How The Right Space Supports You
When you walk into a good gym, your brain has no question about what your purpose is there.
It’s not wondering whether you’re there to watch a movie or eat dinner. The context creates the cues you need to get in the zone for a workout.
The tools you need for your task are accessible to you.
The other people who are in the space are doing the thing that you want to be doing.
The entire vibe is set up to facilitate the activity you want to do.
Even if you don’t feel like doing it.
How Environment Overcomes Inertia
People often ask me whether I have days when I “don’t feel like working out.” I’m human, so of course I have those days. Sometimes they last for weeks.
One of the things that has helped me sustain my daily exercise practice is that I go to the gym even when I “don’t feel like working out.”
I know that when I’m in those phases, if I go to the gym I’ll at least do something — even if “something” means laying on a foam roller. (My trampoline coach insists this is a workout.)
The space in the calendar is dedicated to this activity no matter what. By keeping my routine even when I don’t feel like it, I preserve the space in my schedule.
I won’t ever have to renegotiate with myself to get the time.
I also know that being in the space, even when I don’t feel like working out, will trigger my energy to return to workouts faster than if I stay away.
When my energy to exercise does return, I’ll be in the right physical space to take advantage of it.
What Environment Do You Need?
This principle is universal.
If there’s something you want to do but you aren’t doing it, stop trying to “find time.”
Instead, consider the environment you need and create the space that will support your intention.
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