Module 6 · The forces behind behaviour

Environment & context

Habits are not only about inner discipline. Design the places, screens and people around you.

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Habits are not only about inner discipline. Design the places, screens and people around you.

By the end of this module

You will read your surroundings as a set of cues and costs, and redesign your space, your phone and your social world to make good habits the easy default.

Your physical space

• Your environment is doing half the work — People who seem disciplined often simply meet fewer temptations. (6 min · Beginner)
• Make the cue visible — Put the book where the evening already happens — object placement in practice. (5 min · Beginner)
• Defaults and convenience — Whatever is easiest and already set up tends to win. (5 min · Beginner)
• Friction is a dial you can turn both ways — Lower it for what you want more of, raise it for what you want less of. (6 min · Beginner)

Your digital space

• Your phone is an environment — Home screens, apps and sign-ins are cues and friction too. (6 min · Beginner)
• Taking charge of notifications — Every notification is a cue someone else chose for you. (5 min · Beginner)

The places you work and live

• Designing a place for focus — A desk, a corner or a library seat that means one thing. (6 min · Beginner)
• Home and family — Habits in shared spaces, and agreeing changes with the people you live with. (6 min · Intermediate)

The people around you

• The people around you — We drift toward the habits of the people we spend time with. (6 min · Intermediate)
• Accountability that helps — Sharing a plan with someone — and how to keep it supportive, not shaming. (6 min · Beginner)

A change of scene

• When life moves, habits move — A new home, job or term disrupts old habits — a window to build new ones. (6 min · Intermediate)