Design Your Environment to Get Things Done
Use The 20-Second Rule
Design Your Environment To Get Things Done
Shawn Achor: Developer of the rule
- The author of The Happiness Advantage invented this rule
Shawn’s goal and results
- Wanted to read more
- At the end of the day – plopped down on the sofa
- TV remote was close, but the books weren’t – TV won!
Shawn’s answer: Reverse the convenience
- Took batteries out of the remote and put it in the bedroom, and put books next to the sofa
- It worked – he read more books!
Why it worked: Convenience/inconvenience
- We tend to take the path of least resistance: We do what’s convenient, avoid what’s inconvenient
The goal of the 20-second rule
- Create less resistance in your environment for doing desired behaviors – make them 20 seconds easier to start
- Create more resistance in your environment for preventing undesired behaviors – make them 20 seconds harder to start
Factors that matter
- Distance – How close/far away it is
- Hassle – How easy/ difficult it is to access or use
Your Environment to Get Things Done – CHALLENGE/NEXT ACTIONS
Identify your desirable behaviors and make them 20 seconds easier to start. Identify things you don’t want to do and make them 20 seconds harder to start:
- Stop looking at your phone constantly – Put it in another room – you’ll still hear it ring
- Drink more water/less soda – Keep a bottle of water on your desk and soda out of the house
- Eat a healthier breakfast – Decide what healthy breakfast you want in the morning and set out everything (in advance) to make it easy to prepare
- Pay your bills – Put your bills, checkbook, pen, and stamps on your desk
- Work out – Put your workout clothes/shoes next to your bed and decide (in advance) the workout you will do
