How to Make Life Easier By Changing Your Environment

It seems like everyone is selling products and services and the media overwhelms us with options. When we surf the net we are likely haunted by our previous click. We’ll  be in the middle of reading an article or blog and be rudely interrupted.  When we add the plethora of choices we become more distracted.  Option after option definitely puts us in the driver’s seat, but also makes purchasing choices more difficult and time consuming. The multitude of options makes me wonder if fewer choices would make our lives easier.  Would it be possible for things to be easier if we took a stroll down Easy Street?

Joseph Coulombe’s Experience

The founder of Trader Joe’s, Joseph Coulombe, owned Pronto stores when 7-Eleven came along and gave him a run for his money. 7-Eleven positioned themselves based on convenience and longer operating hours.   How could Joseph compete? Sean Young, Author of Stick With It ,A Scientifically Proven Process for Changing Your Life for Good shared Joseph’s story for a good reason.  Joseph had a problem to solve. He had to make a serious decision.  His Pronto stores were going to tank if he didn’t make a strategic move.  7-Eleven was catering to a market that Joseph thought they shared and Joseph had to figure out how to compete with 7-11’s approach.

What did Joseph do?  Well, he stopped clicking on the proverbial pop up ads, looking for the next best solution.  Instead, he went on vacation.  He shut down the outside world in order to get inspired and solve his problem.  Joseph took a vacation and that may seem like anything other than a smart business move. But as it turns out, that vacation helped Joseph define his unique selling position and ultimately his subsequent success.   

While this blog isn’t about vacationing for inspiration, I do want to make a point.  Sometimes,the best thing we can do for ourselves is unplug.  Our minds continue to solve problems even if we go to the Carribean.  Now back to Joseph’s inspiration. When Joseph vacationed in the Caribbean he became inspired. The Caribbean had limited places to eat. The people were relaxed, having fun and wearing cool Caribbean shirts.  

 What was the one common denominator?  Joseph  noticed that everyone was happy.  That’s not surprising; they were on vacation.  

What Did Joseph Do With His Carribean Inspiration?

Inspired by the easy breezy lifestyle Joseph came back and decided to get rid of many of the choices he formerly offered his customers.  Instead of scaling his product line, he downsized. He was making purchasing easier, less complicated. The downsized version was renamed to Trader Joe’s. Instead of multiple products his customers would buy theTrader Joe brand. Joseph set himself apart from his competitor by limiting customer choices and ultimately he made their purchasing process easier.  

Picture: Pixaby: K.McKinley

What can we learn from that story?  A lesson in human behavior. We prefer easy and we like familiarity.

Why shouldn’t we consider using a similar approach as Joseph with the things, people, projects and purchases hammering for our attention?  Shouldn’t we consider streamlining?  Would we be better off downsizing?  Our current world clammers for our attention, pushing and pulling us in many directions . What would the world look like if we each chose to make our environment easier by limiting our choices?  Science has already proven that we tend to do what’s easier.  Rather than thinking we’re taking the easy route for Easy Street’s sake, we should take what we know about ourselves  and use it to our advantage. Let’s turn what could be thought of as a disadvantage into an advantage. 

3 Ways to Make Life Easier:

Excerpt: Stick With It ,A Scientifically Proven Process for Changing Your Life for Good 

1. Control the environment
2. Limit choices
3. Use a road map

Trader Joe’s founder, Joseph Coulombe, limited his customers’ choices and in doing so controlled his environment and the environment of his customers.  When we make things easier it may  require one or all of these approaches and today’s focus is about controlling the environment.   Let’s take a closer look at a few other real life relatable examples.

MELISSA CHU, WRITER, JUMPSTARTYOURDREAMLIFE.COM writes for INC. 5000 and she believes our environment has the biggest influence over our choices.  In her blog, Why Your Environment is the Biggest Factor in Changing Your Life, Willpower on its own isn’t enough she says our decisions are mostly impacted by what’s around us and provides these examples:

Work:  “ Your work is too far away from your desk, causing you to procrastinate on getting started.”

Eating:  “The plates you use to eat dinner with have a wide area, so you tend to fill them up with more food than you need.”

Distractions: “You browse a website and see a suggested article or video, which you become curious about and click on.”

We can all relate to her examples, but what if we flip those circumstances to our advantage?  But before the flip,we need to consider what’s most important.  

What’s Most Important and How Will We Make It Happen?

Organize your work by priority.  

• Create and maintain a priority system.  
• Organize your to do lists and files according to necessity and priority.  
• What do you need to get done today?
• What do you need to do this week? 

Reflect:  Spend time reflecting on your progress.

• Did your priority system work?
• Were you able to organize your “to do’s” and files according to priority?
• Did you acknowledge what you got done each day/week?  
• Did you recognize the things that derailed your attention?

Now back to Melissa’s examples:

“If the work we need to do is too far from our desk then move it.”

• Gather work related projects/tasks and relocate them to a closer proximity.  This includes gathering and organizing electronic files before you start a project. 

• Remember, first things first.  What are you working on in the  morning? Are you continuing that same project in the afternoon?  If not, plan for the shift, both the physical and mental shift.

“If your plates are too large and you’re eating too much, what can you do?”

•  Use smaller plates.

•  Mentally divide the plate into quadrants. 
•  Then eat 3 quadrants of veggies and 1 quadrant of meat, limiting the meat to 4 ounces.  

The problem may be less about surface area and more about what’s on the plate.

“You browse a website and see a suggested article or video, which you become curious about and click on.”  Plan your clicks!

I could go on for days about this distraction.  We live in a world of  distractions, but, we can control those distractions, at least, most of them.

Ways to Control Distractions:

• Install an ad blocker.  It’s your work time and distractions are costly and disruptive to progress.  It’s as if someone showed up without an appointment over and over again.  

• Social media – Some people choose to block notifications.  I make a rule.  Check social media “x” times per day.  Interact “x” times per day.

• Videos – We all get lured in by video sites like YouTube. Those sites are smart, using algorithms that target you.  That doesn’t mean that the videos aren’t useful.  I love YouTube, but I watch videos when I want to watch them, not when an ad pops up.  Click on watch later or subscribe to your favorites.

You are in charge and can make things easier.  It starts with recognizing that many parts of your environment are under your control.  What stresses you?  Regret after eating that overfilled plate of food?  Do you look at the time and wonder where the last 2 hours went?  Sometimes we need to take bold steps like Joseph Coulombe.  Controlling his store’s environment and limiting choices was a smart business move.  Turns out choosing Easy Street made his business boom.  

What Can You Do to Make Your Life Easier?

• How can we make things easier on ourselves without compromising our goals?
• What are some ways we achieve our goals without over filling our to do list?
• How do we manage our competing priorities?
• How can we not waste valuable, productive time but still consider enough choices to be a smart consumer?

Spend some time thinking about the things you can control in your environment and make life easier.  Would you become more organized?  Would you implement new strategies or block distractions?  The goal is to create an easier work and play environment. How will you design your Easy Street?  

We’ve covered the A, B, C’s of behaviors & the StepLadder Approach in: 

How to Bulletproof Your Motivation One Step at a Time

How to Make Lasting Change By Building 6 Community Techniques

Why It’s So Important to Know What’s Important

Next week we’ll talk more about limiting choices and making roadmaps.  Until then, remember it’s always an easier trip when you know where you are going.  Understand your destination, define your easy and let’s get there, one step at a time. 
About the Author: Kimberly Sheldahl is a former executive, turned Kolbe Certified ™ Consultant who is also an Integrative Health Coach. She is passionate about the integration of productivity and well-being.  She is also the host of BOOM Baby BOOM, a T.V. show/podcast which will begin airing on Transformation TV in May and is the #1 Best Selling Author of Hack Into OZ, Get the Most Out of Life, available on Amazon. Her course, IMPACT will also be released in later May.  The modules include science backed data on building happiness, self-belief (efficacy), self-control (regulation), building habits, and staying motivated.