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SumAll.com is a startup firm that provides data analytics for companies ranging from small businesses to large enterprise-level players such as Starbucks and Pandora. The company analyzed large amounts of customer data to determine the most opportune times to send out posts to various platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest and Google. The “best time” metric was calculated for each social media platform by measuring the responses on hundreds of millions of different posts, representing companies in various industry verticals.

Here’s an easy way to apply environment design to your own life: think about your environment in relation to the number of steps it takes to perform a habit. To make good habits easier, reduce the number of steps to do them. To make bad habits harder, increase the number of steps between you and the habit.

Here are some examples…

You want to work out more often, but feel too tired after a long day of work? Or don’t want to get from underneath the covers on a rainy morning?

You can remove one hurdle in your environment by laying out your workout clothes the night before. When your shoes, water bottle, and gear are ready and waiting for you, there is one less hurdle between you and a good workout.

 

Reduce mindless eating. I don’t know about you, but if I see a cookie sitting on the kitchen counter, then I’m going to eat it. I don’t even need to be hungry. It’s just there, so I respond. I’m simply reacting to my environment. Make life easier on yourself by removing unhealthy food from your view. Put healthier options like fruit and nuts on the kitchen counter.

 

Environment Design: Where to Go From Here

Most of the time we assume that to take a certain action, we need to have an incentive. You hear people say this all the time: “I need to get motivated.” or “I need to have a good reason for doing X.”

We also assume this same approach for managing and motivating others. Managers and leaders will often assume that they need to incentivize their employees, teammates, or students to take a particular action.

Environment design paints a different picture. It proves that our choices and preferences can be crafted by the environment around us. Suddenly, it becomes apparent that we don’t need to be motivated or incentivized to take action — we simply need to be surrounded by the right cues.

Imagine if your world — your home, your office, your gym, all of it — was crafted in a way that made the good behaviors easier and the bad behaviors harder. How often would you make healthy and productive choices if they were simply your default response to your environment? And how much easier would that be than trying to motivate yourself all of the time?

How is your environment impacting your choices? And what will you do to improve it?

We often say that we need to be motivated to make a change in our lives. An interesting experiment, however, seemed to prove a different point.

 The Experiment

Several European countries were analyzed according to the number of organ donors. Even though there were located very close to each other and had no significant cultural differences, the results came back with astounding differences.

It turned out that what made the result different was simply the form the countries were sending out.

The countries with low rates of organ donors sent out a form that said, “If you want to be an organ donor, check here.” In other words, the form required people to opt–in.

Meanwhile, the countries with high rates of donation sent out a form that said, “If you don’t want to be an organ donor, check here.” In other words, the form required people to opt–out.

The difference was astounding.

Consider the impact of this. If a simple form can make such a drastic difference in your choices, how do other pieces of your environment impact you on a daily basis?

What is going on here? And how can you use it to improve your life?

How Environment Impacts Our Behaviour

“The researchers summarized the impact of the environment by saying, “In most cases, the majority of people choose the default option to which they were assigned.”

In other words, most of us respond the same way to the cues that surround us. If you see a cookie on the counter – you will probably eat it, and if you hear music – you will start tapping your fingers.

We may think we are in control, but the truth is, our actions are often just a response to the environment.

Guess what? This is good news because you can design your environment for success!

Here’s how…(stay tuned for Part II and find out)

We all wish we had more hours in the day. The most successful entrepreneurs have developed their own ways for getting the most out of the business day.LinkedIn has collected some of the best productivity hacks of their most influential users and the infographic below highlights some of the best tips that were shared.