Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to admit that willpower is overrated, so
Speaker 1: design your environment for success instead. It's easy to intend
Speaker 1: to have just a few oreos and then finish off
Speaker 1: a whole row. You can promise yourself that you won't
Speaker 1: hit snooze before you go to bed, but have a
Speaker 1: different perspective. At six am. You can go into the
Speaker 1: bookstore just to browse and end up buying an armload
Speaker 1: of books. It happens to all of us, so don't
Speaker 1: feel bad about yourself. While self awareness and self regulation
Speaker 1: are great, exercising willpower is really hard. So rather than
Speaker 1: relying on willpower too often, when you can change your
Speaker 1: environment so you can make great choices f it lessly.
Speaker 1: It can look something like this. If you have trouble
Speaker 1: not eating the whole bag of Doritos or the whole
Speaker 1: pint of Ben and Jerry's, by a single size bag
Speaker 1: of chips or a four ounce container of ice cream instead,
Speaker 1: then you can enjoy your treat without needing to tear
Speaker 1: yourself away. Will you pay more per ounce for a
Speaker 1: single serving container than you would for the full size. Well, sure,
Speaker 1: but you're avoiding an internal conflict between your urge to
Speaker 1: devour every bite and your intention to eat a small
Speaker 1: portion that's worth a dollar or two. And hey, if
Speaker 1: you would have eaten the whole point of Ben and Jerry's, well,
Speaker 1: the four ounce container costs less, so you're saving money
Speaker 1: after all. As for the temptation to hit snooze, put
Speaker 1: your alarm clock far away from your bed. That way,
Speaker 1: you have to get out of bed to turn it
Speaker 1: off when it's dawn and the alarm is blasting from
Speaker 1: ten feet away. It doesn't take willpower to get out
Speaker 1: of bed, just a desire for quiet, and once you're up,
Speaker 1: it's easier to stay up. If you want to browse,
Speaker 1: but not by le your credit card at home or
Speaker 1: in the car, or bring only as much cash as
Speaker 1: you're okay with spending. This is especially helpful for places
Speaker 1: like farmers markets or craft fares. Or you see so
Speaker 1: many beautiful things and want to buy them all, but really,
Speaker 1: how much produce does your family eat? And how many
Speaker 1: people on your Christmas list need a pottery bowl or
Speaker 1: a handwoven scarf. Designing your environment can help you avoid
Speaker 1: things you don't want to do, and also help you
Speaker 1: to do things that you do want to do. Want
Speaker 1: to get more exercise, don't buy a permit for the
Speaker 1: garage closest to your office. Instead, make it your norm
Speaker 1: to park in a lot half a mile away. That's
Speaker 1: a mile of walking every work day. If it's storming
Speaker 1: or you're running late, you can pay extra to park
Speaker 1: in the garage, but by making walking the default, you
Speaker 1: get more steps. If you want to do more focused work,
Speaker 1: close your email and text message apps and turn off
Speaker 1: all notifications. Now you don't need the discipline to delay
Speaker 1: reading messages because guess what, you don't even know they're there.
Speaker 1: Instead of relying on willpower, reduce the temptations that your
Speaker 1: future self will encounter. Make good behavior easy. If you do,
Speaker 1: leading the life you want will take less effort and
Speaker 1: be a lot more likely. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four. Then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot
Speaker 1: com that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the
Speaker 1: letters thank so much. I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
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