Adapt your environment to the task

Everyone's been there: you need to do something, or even want to do something, but you end up putting it off forever. Not because it's any less necessary or appealing, but simply because you can't seem to get started. You're not in the mood, the timing doesn't feel right — there's always a dozen excuses ready to go.

What's really happening is that you're hitting that initial resistance to getting started. Your brain has to shift gears, move from one state to another, and focus on something new. But your brain loves efficiency — it prefers to conserve energy and computational power by running most things on autopilot out of habit.

Overcoming this resistance usually requires a deliberate push — a conscious act of will. But sometimes willpower isn't enough. Like when you planned to go to the gym in the morning: you wake up and think, 'Okay... ugh... I have to get ready and go... shorts, shirt... oh God, maybe not today?' and then you don't go.

Here's the trick: You can outsmart your brain by lowering the resistance and making it easier to shift gears. Simplify the task so much that your environment does most of the heavy lifting, leaving you with just one small action to kick things off. Like dominoes, the setup is already in place; all you have to do is give the first piece a nudge.

Tech companies and startups love this approach — changing the environment to drive behavior. Think about it: when Facebook launches a new feature, they make it as effortless as possible for you to use it, sometimes by directly manipulating the interface — putting Reels as the central Instagram button, or pushing Watch to the front when you're watching a video. You can do the same.

In the gym example, pack your bag the night before — everything you need, ready to go. Put a shaker of protein powder on the counter. In the morning, you wake up, pour in some milk, and boom, breakfast is done. Your bag is packed — you just grab it, get dressed, and go. Done. You're already crushing it.

Here's another one: say you want to tweet more. You have the app on your home screen, you check it all the time, you read it, but you never post. Here's the solution: instead of the app icon, create a shortcut that takes you directly to the tweet creation window. And don't just leave it on the home screen — move it to the bottom dock, where it's always at your fingertips. When a thought comes to mind, tap the shortcut, write it down, and send it. So easy.

You can even reverse the technique. Instead of cutting corners, you add resistance to make it harder to indulge in bad habits. In other words, complicate the path to the actions you want to avoid.