Put Your Environment on Easy Mode

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Every move that a chess player makes functions to get the board in a state where good plays emerge.

Athletes do the same thing – “skate to where the puck is going to be” type of stuff.

But few people realize that this is a general strategy to apply in daily life.

So much of making good choices comes down to putting yourself in a position where it’s easier to make the good choice.

In life you get points for the good choices you make, not the difficulty you overcame to make those good choices.

So put your environment on easy mode. You don’t get any extra points for having your environment on hard mode. All that happens is your performance suffers.

Doing your best means not just doing your best in each moment, but also doing your best to put yourself in a position where it’s easier to make the best choices.

Personally, I know that my likelihood of exercising each day is inversely related to 1) how long it’s been since I woke up, and 2) how much effort it takes to begin the exercises.

If evening comes and I haven’t exercised, I’m not going to do it. If I shower and start my day without exercising, I’m not going to do it. If I have to exit my apartment and drive to a gym, I’m not going to do it.

So I exercise in the morning, before I shower, before I start my day, and I do it at home.

And that works great to keep me on the rails exercising consistently, every day.

You can play the same kind of strategy with anything.

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