Curate your environment
Jared and I go to the theater as much as we can. We say to ourselves, “if we’re going to keep living in this exorbitant city, we might as well take advantage of it!”
I’m always baffled by how theater owners care so much about the product on the stage, and care so little about the environment in which the art is being displayed. It feels a little blasphemous from a creative perspective, but come on! People paid a ton of money for these tickets and the theater is sweltering, the seats are horribly uncomfortable, your knees are shoved into the seat in front, and the person next to you keeps checking their email.
Theater owners can’t control everything. I get it. But think of how much more likely you are to enjoy a show when you’ve already been primed into a good mood. The ushers are personable and kind. The seats are spacious and your view is unobstructed.
“When we create a solid environment, we’re able to see the art clearly—unimpeded and unbiased by discomfort. ”
When we create a solid environment, we’re able to see the art clearly—unimpeded and unbiased by discomfort. You still may hate the show, but at least you know it’s because of show itself, not your lumpy seat.
To set myself up for success, this means having layers that I can take on and off to control my temperature, not eating too much food before the show, and probably choosing an aisle seat so I have a bit more leg room.
Priming ourselves to have a good experience takes work, but it’s worth it to get the full experience.
Now you may be wondering where I’m going with this because, of course, I have to put a health spin on it. So here it is:
If you want to be successful building healthy habits that stick, a huge part of the equation will be priming your environment.
For fitness this means finding a gym that is convenient, or luxury, or not-too-busy. It might mean finding a coach who you connect with or making friends in the class who make it just a bit easier to drag your ass out of bed and get there.
For nutrition, this means not keeping processed foods in the house for the mindless post-dinner snacking. It means eating at the dinner table with your partner and slowing down to chew instead of scarfing your food in front of the TV.
For sleep, this means creating a bedroom that acts as a sanctuary. That encourages quality nighttime routines & sleep hygiene while removing the temptation of doom-scrolling & binge watching by not even having a phone or TV in the bedroom.
Your environment isn’t everything. It’s not going to lift the weights, cook the chicken, or do really *any* of the work for you. But as I’d say to all the theater owners—if you want the best shot of people enjoying your show, prime their environment first, so you’re not fighting an uphill battle from the start.
I want you to enjoy the show. Meaning—I want you to enjoy building healthy habits! And that’s just not going to happen if your gym is disgusting, or you always keep the freezer stocked with ice cream, or you watch four episodes of Grey’s Anatomy before only getting five hours of sleep.
“I want you to enjoy building healthy habits!”
Set up the environment and you may be surprised how much more you enjoy show—and more importantly—you may be surprised how much easier it is to make it back to the theater.
