Pedro Loureiro explains how your physical environment shapes habits more than willpower. He shares how stress from launching a solo business triggered junk-food habits, then used environment design to make better choices automatic instead of relying on discipline.
So this video, I actually want to talk about the environment and how it's a very powerful tool, you know, and lever really that you can do to increase your focus and productivity in any sort of, you know, whether that's business, life, whatever field you want to be in. And one of these insights really hit me today because, you know, for the last several years I've been really, really passionate about personal development and productivity and all these different things. When I've looked at it because I had, you know, this end of the year, this is the time I normally reflect on a lot of these things. And when I was looking at it and really diving into, you know, what has been the really most powerful thing in helping me improve in business and in productivity and personal life, it's always been the environment. And so when I looked at it, because one of the big things— and I'm being a little bit raw and transparent here— but one of the big things I've really, um, that's been challenging this year is, you know, dealing with stress and dealing with focus and making sure I'm, I'm getting my stuff done because this year, you know, I've really set up my own business. I, you know, hit 6 figures this year in my business. And, you know, this was the first time I ever went into business as well by myself solo. So it was a very stressful time. I mean, it was an amazing time for sure. But what I noticed is the way that I was responding to stress was I was going for junk food a lot more frequently. And that was just my behavioral pattern, you know, and I know that in that book Atomic Habits, you know, there's the cue, there's the trigger, the cue, the routine, and the reward. Something, something along those lines. I have to, I have to go back and reread that book. But the important thing I've noticed is when I'm in a different environment, let's say a different physical environment is what I'm talking about here, there is no temptation to have the junk food when I know that there is no way that I can order it or get it. Now I'm using this as a little example because I know that this can apply to anything, really. And that's the key. If you're in— if you create an environment where you cannot do the behavior, the negative behavior, let's say, that, that, you know, you're inclined to do, then your default is just going to be the positive behavior. And this is a really powerful insight for me because when I'm looking at the next year and I'm saying, well, firstly, how can I remove all of these destructive habits? It's not about it's not always about willpower because yes, you can willpower your way and willpower is an amazing thing, but it's finite. You know, you can't willpower your way through life on every single day. Emotions are going to come up and down like that is just a natural cadence of the human being. So you've got to plan for that, you know, plan for the fluctuations. And so when it comes to the environment, this is the ultimate tool and this is the ultimate really hack, you know, that's, that's not going to fluctuate with your emotions when you build a solid an environment and have your environment that is the default for productivity and focus and, you know, and good moods, you're always going to set yourself up to win. So the key insight to summarize and break this down is, and the question I want to put to you and to my future self who's watching this is, how can you design your environment around you to support your goals and where you want to be? And that means there's two ways you can do that. That means removing or blocking or just making the negative habits like absolutely impossible to do in that environment? And second of all, how can you make the good habits easy to achieve? So to say that again a little bit better, how can you make your negative habits— how can you create as much resistance for those negative habits as possible? And how can you— for the positive habits, how can you make them as easy to achieve with as least resistance as possible? So that's the ultimate question. And yeah, I think take a minute or two to let that one really sink in, and you'll see, you'll see for your own life, I'm sure, where you can go with this. But at least for me, it's a very powerful insight that's come to me. And of course, it's not a new one. I know other people have been preaching about this online, but for some reason it just hit a chord in me today. And yeah, I just thought I would create this video and document it so that, you know, if I'm looking back with a little bit of brain fog, maybe in a couple of weeks or a couple of months, whatever, this video hopefully will give me a little bit of a reminder as to what I need to do. So yeah, that's it.
