Via The Knowledge Project Podcast

"A lot of the surface level conversations about habits that people have are about discipline and willpower. People will look at a professional athlete and they'll say, "Man, if I was just as disciplined as them . . ." But I talked to one guy who played for the Philadelphia Eagles and he said, "During my career, everything was designed for us. We would go to the stadium, and we have professional trainers and nutritionists. The food is prepared for us. The workouts are designed, coaches are on us every day to do the right drills in the right order." There's this environment where the conditions for success have been fully created.

— James Clear Shares Secrets to Habits, at 12:55

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James Clear, best-selling author of Atomic Habits, highlights how professional athletes benefit from environments that create the conditions for success.

"Everything was designed for us"—professional trainers, prepared meals, custom workouts, and coaches providing accountability. After retiring, athletes find it harder to stick to fitness routines without that supportive environment.

Is your environment designed to help you succeed? Consider the following:

• What does my space encourage? Walk into rooms where you spend most of your time and notice what behaviors are obvious and easy
• How can I make the desired behaviors more obvious and undesirable behaviors harder? If healthy food sits visible on the counter versus hidden in the crisper, you'll eat it. If your phone sits next to you versus in another room, you'll check it every three minutes versus never walking 30 seconds to the other room to get it
• Am I creating conditions where my desired change is easy? For example, if you want to eat less junk food, are you consciously choosing to buy less of it?

Many behaviors will curtail themselves to the desired degree if they're less obvious or less accessible. A little bit of friction goes a long way in shaping behavior—it reveals whether you truly wanted something or just went along with it because it was effortless.

Design your environment so the good habits are in the path of least resistance, not an uphill battle.