Day 2 | Daily Dose of learning
This project is inspired by the ‘100-day project’, a challenge consisting of committing to doing an activity everyday for 100 days.
I have decided to write about one thing I learn everyday for the next 30 days. This can be a skill, a deep concept to elaborate on, or a mere life lesson that made me become aware of something I consider relevant.
The decision is based on the belief that “we are what we repeatedly do”, as Valentin Perez put it.
How the Environment we design impacts our habits
Environment design (in terms of functional design, not necessarily aestethic) can have a great influence on the habits we have and the choices we make in life.
Most of the times, we think we have control over what we choose to do, and while I believe this is mostly true, the external environment we find ourselves in plays a role on our decisions, even if often subconsciously. This is a topic that interests me because it can be an important factor to manipulate in life, especially when it comes to establishing habits such as eating healthy. Exposure to calorie-dense and macronutrient-poor foods (usually very tasty and appealing) makes it easier to eat unhealthy, simply because this is the kind of food found in your house.
By not buying that kind of food and purchasing instead ‘healthier’, more ‘high quality’ options, we would be only exposed to good eating choices, therefore reducing friction and exposing ourselves to the good habit we want to establish.
On the other hand, what comes to my mind as a counterargument has to do with the fact that excessive restrictions can be detrimental in the medium to long term. What I mean by this is that eliminating the type of food that is usually very tempting and savoury, all at once, can lead to repression and deep need to eat high sugar, high fat stuff. Which can result in overeating when we find that category of food in front of us again.
So, designing the environment so to set up the optimal place to establish the habits we want is still crucial, in my opinion. However, this choice must first be preceded by a high level of discipline and self-awareness, which would make it ok for the person to actually enjoy the process and not suffer from excessive restrictions.
Environment design for healthy eating is just the most iconic example that I thought about; but I am aware that effective environment design has a role in many areas of our lives, whether it be productivity, creativity, or drinking alcohol and smoking.