One Apple A Day #37
It’s been almost a week since I left Kuwait for a short holiday in Italy and UK.
I’m so grateful for this opportunity to spend some time with my family and friends.
At the same time in this short period, I had the opportunity to confirm the importance of the environment on my productivity.
In Kuwait, I’ve been able to organise my day around a very effective routine. In particular, my morning, from 5 am to 10 am is a sequence of tiny good habits.
Thanks to this routine I’m able to be very productive and creative since the very beginning of the day. I find this routine very rewarding because, whatever happen in my day after 10 am, I feel like I already achieved a lot.
My problem in achieving anything has always been my lack of willpower and discipline. I get easily bored and distracted.
So, simply deciding to set up a morning routine isn’t enough for me. To be sure to make it work I had to set up my environment in order to protect my focus from distractions.
My partner is very supportive and she respects my morning routine. I configure my phone to stay in “no disturb” mode from 5 to 10 am, this way I won’t receive any distracting notification. I picked an online program for my morning workout — after various tests, I opted for Hasfit programs — that I just have to follow without thinking. I defined my breakfast menu so I don’t have to think about what I want to eat. I minimised the choices I have to make in order to go through the whole routine as effortlessly as possible.
Maybe it’s a bit extreme but I really enjoy it. The problem is that it didn’t work outside that environment. Since day one after we arrive in Italy I tried to keep my morning routine but I had to give up after 2 days. Without the “safety” provided by my usual environment, my willpower isn’t enough to keep me on track. It’s a short holiday period so, not a big deal. I let it go and enjoy all the other benefits of being in my homeland. But I learned an important lesson. Wherever I go, if I want to keep my routine, the first thing is to study the environment in order to be sure to protect my morning routine. This means to study the spaces and make the needed adjustments, at least what it’s possible. Choose the right sequence of activities to avoid conflicts with the environments, engage my network to protect my routine and so on. To be able to direct all my energy on my habits I need to be sure I’m not fighting against my environment.
So, if you’re not able to install or keep your habits, instead of beating yourself for your lack of willpower, take a look at your environment. You may find that with a few adjustments you can support your habits and you won’t have to rely on your willpower.