Today we are going to talk about if the will is more important than your environment. Can you overcome everything life throws at you?
The struggle for change
Our environment is the hidden puppeteer in our lives. It makes us react to the circumstances, but can your will actually win on top of everything the environment does? The problem with willpower is that it cannot be sustained for longer periods of time. Yes, you can be motivated to overcome the obstacles in your life but the bigger the struggles the more willpower you will need. At some point, you will feel drained which will make you reverse back to the base of your environment. The environment is your comfort zone; it sustains itself with its surroundings. You have created psychological links to everything around you, you have made habits that are so automatic that you do not actually see yourself doing them. If you rely only on your will to change yourself – you will fail all the time.
If you want to change, you would need to change your base environment. We all have good and bad days but what really matters is the middle ground where you actually live upon. Changing your environment in any way possible will make it easier for you to make the changes you want to see unfold. There will be less resistance between you and the things you want to do which equals less willpower used to overcome the obstacles which make it more likely to occur.
Successful people are lazy
Lazy does not mean bad by default. It can mean less energy used for a task which saves you some for the things that really matter. You have to organize your environment by making it work for you. The environment should require from you, as I said before, less energy to do the healthy habits and more energy to do the destructive ones. You have to automate boring tasks as much as possible, your healthy habits should be easily done and available all around you so you can benefit from them the most.
Try reorganizing your environment so it indicates you to do the things you want to do: if you want to work out – prepare your clothes before bed so in the morning they are ready if you want to drink more water – place water bottles all-around your house, if you want to drink less alcohol make it not easily accessible at some bottom place in your fridge. Work with what you have to create the best way possible for giving birth to the habits that really are worth your time and killing the ones that do not benefit you at all. Then you would not rely on will because your environment will sustain your habits by default.
How I did it...
I wanted to read more: I have four books around my room.
I wanted to work out more: my dumbbells are easily seen and available in my room
I wanted to meditate: I stick a note around the room reminding me of it
I wanted to cut down social media: I hide my phone for hours some days or I just stop the internet on my phone for a while
You can get creative with these. You are not a victim of your environment if you start changing it. Yes, your will to change is important, you got to be willing to change the surroundings, but once the base environment supports your intentions you will make them easier and more automatic which will grow to become a part of you. To answer the question of “Is will or environment more important?” – the environment wins, but will is crucial for change also, just not in the long run. And until next time – have a great life. Peace and Love <3