Thoughts on Atomic Habits, Part II: Environment

Continuing with the themes in Atomic Habits that I found immediately applicable to movement, we now come to environment.  One of James Clear’s prompts is to change your environment AND change your relationship to your environment as ways to solidify desired habits.

One of the foundational principles of the book is becoming aware of our habits in the first place, this idea of not living blindly to our choices—which I’ll talk about in Part III of this series.  Becoming aware of the fact that our environment actually affects our choices seems so plausible and obvious, yet is jarring when you think about it extensively.  Clear gives the example of the spread of agriculture—agriculture spread across Europe and Asia faster than it did across North and South America and Africa simply because of the shapes of the continents. The continents that spanned longer north to south had more drastic weather changes in those directions that limited the spread of agriculture than the continents whose very geography spread longer east to west where weather was more consistent.  On a smaller and more identifiable scale, if there’s a water fountain sitting right outside your office, you’re more likely to stay hydrated throughout the day than if there isn’t.  Here’s another one we’re all likely to relate to: if someone brings doughnuts to work, we’ll probably eat one because it’s there.  If someone doesn’t bring doughnuts, we’ll be less likely to go out of our way to get one.

Ok, obvious enough, right? We can take three principles from this and apply them to movement.

It’s Not Us, It’s Our Environment: Change it up
It’s well established that environment affects our behavior.  In order to live our day to day lives, we have to solidify routines and lifestyles that create a rhythm to our existence.  This is necessary to keep jobs, raise families, maintain relationships—basically to exist in society.  However, when seeking change, we may be so married to these lifestyles and our traits within them, that we never consider that our environment is dictating our behavior.  Todd Hargrove, a well researched manual and movement therapist, writes about his daughter who doesn’t enjoy bike riding.  Yet, when they take a family trip to go camping, out of nowhere his daughter becomes and avid biker for 3 days.  As soon as they return home, she’s no longer interested in biking.  Her interest had nothing to do with her intrinsic dislike for biking and everything to do with her environment and associated state of mind within that environment.  People tell me often, “Oh I hate running, I’ve never liked it.”  And then I find out they’ve only ever attempted running on a treadmill or within the dog-poop littered streets of the city.  “Have you ever tried running in a park?” I ask.  If we’ve determined that certain behaviors are part of our personality, we might be surprised to change our environment and witness a different side of ourselves.   Do you hate going to the gym? Have you ever considered that the gym itself may be the issue?  There are some gyms that are significantly more inviting than others, and in my humble opinion, it’s worth the extra buck going to a nicer one to begin to change your experience.  All of a sudden, you’re someone who looks forward to going to the gym. What would happen if you removed your desk chair for a day and replaced it with a floor cushion? (A little extreme, I get it, but sitting on the floor forces you to change your movement habits without thinking about it, and you’ll likely get up to stand and take breaks more often).  All of a sudden, you’re someone who moves regularly throughout your day, even at the office. Do you always take a lunch break indoors while checking email?  What if you made it a point to take a lunch break outside? Already, that involves you walking, getting sunshine, probably stretching as you get out of your chair.  Plus, being outside has its own specific benefits when it comes to movement which I’ll write about next.

Go Outside!!
Studies have shown that when participants exercise outdoors, their exertion rate is higher although they perceive it to be less than when completing the same exercise indoors. (how cool??!!) In addition, the participants voiced greater intentions for repeated physical activity outdoors, AND participants are more likely to engage in social interaction.  Do you need more?? 

Countertops are for Pouncing, says your cat.
The American psychologist, James Gibson, came up with The Theory of Affordances.  We perceive the world based on our relationships to our environment and the objects in it.  This theory states that our perception of the world is also specifically determined by the potential for action within the environment.  For example, in your kitchen, there are countertops.  As a society, we have determined that countertops in the kitchen are for prepping food.  Your cat, however, doesn’t see it this way. The kitchen countertops afford her the opportunity to jump and safely land. (If you actually do have a cat, you’ll understand that most of your apartment contains these affordances!). Affordances can be super individual and based on our lifestyle.  If you have a dog, the neighborhood park is where you take him out to socialize and affords you 10 minutes of outdoor time in your day.  If you’re a runner, the park is for running and affords you a place to exercise.  If you play intramural badminton and meet at that park weekly, the park affords you a social opportunity.  It only took me two parkour classes for me to see outdoor benches and handrails in a very different way.  Benches afforded me a place to practice jumping while handrails afforded me an opportunity to vault over something.  This was totally new, and now, I can’t unsee it.  Wether I choose to jump or vault depends on the day, but I see those objects in my environment differently now and there is potential for movement. My relationship to them has changed. 
A big part of our relationship to our environment is dictated by social and cultural norms.  Our culture affords a lot of sedentary behavior with chairs and couches and elevators and escalators.  My sister however, to this day, sees a staircase and bolts for it. It has, for some reason, always afforded her an opportunity to race the rest of us choosing the elevator.  What happens when you decide to see your couch as a prop for stretching? Or an open space on the floor as a place to sit rather than just walk through?  

The more you can become aware of the daily objects around you within your environments and the types of environments you inhabit on a regular basis, you can start see how they’re affecting your behavior and make choices to change some things to your benefit.  Noticing what you’re doing and how you’re behaving has to come first though, and that’s what Part III is all about.

keep moving.
xoxo

some resources:
Gladwell et al, 2013
Rogerson et al, 2016Better Movement by Todd Hargrove
Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (chapter 8), James Gibson