How Your Environment Drives your Success

I grew up with some pretty bad habits. Partying, smoking, not sleeping well and eating all the wrong things. It showed. I was over 200lbs until my early 20's when I finally did something about it.

It wasn’t until I moved to California when I was 36 that my life really shifted. I found better social influences, I tried new sports, and I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, time and time again. That was the catalyst that I needed to go from party girl to sporty-spice.

According to James Clear:

Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior. We tend to believe our habits are a product of our motivation, talent, and effort. Certainly, these qualities matter. But the surprising thing is, especially over a long time period, your personal characteristics tend to get overpowered by your environment.

Bottom line, if you want to create a better environment for yourself, you have to make good behaviors more convenient, make bad behaviors less convenient and be consistent enough to make the good behaviors, habitual.

Here are some ideas to consider with your own environmental setup. What can you do to make your good behaviors more accessible and the bad ones, more inconvenient?

• • Get your groceries shipped to you by Amazon Fresh, Thrive Market or Instacart.  You’ll be less tempted to buy crap.
  • Autoship things like supplements, meal replacement shakes etc.  You'll know if you're slacking if they start to pile up and you won't let that happen.
  • Create a home gym (can do in a very small space)
  • Make going to bed inviting.
  • Wash your face and brush your teeth before you get too tired.
  • Have a GREAT book on hand.
  • Invest in the best bedding you can find.
  • Sleep in your workout clothes
  • MEAL PREP!!!!
  • Have protein smoothies in the AM (I love this brand)
  • Hard boil all the eggs
  • Always have a quest bar on hand.  Cookie dough is the best flavor by far.
  • Don't keep wine in the house - buy bottles as you need them
  • Avoid centering your vacations around loafing around and eating food.  Rent an Airbnb instead of a booking a resort so you can prepare your own meals and focus on hiking, or explore a new city
  • Wear workout clothes as much as possible - invest in cute stuff (this way, you're always ready for your next workout)
  • Have rules - no food on the couch, no carbs before noon, etc.
  • Have a pair of cute walking shoes at your desk at work (and use them)

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