What surrounds you is more important than your motivation

To understand how much the environment influences our success, let's take a look into the past.

How are the shapes of the continents and the success of farmers

In his book "Guns, germs and steel"Evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond (Jared Diamond) notes the obvious fact that the continents have different shapes. It turns out that this greatly influenced the history of mankind.

Length of the American and African continent from north to south is much greater than from east to west. And in Eurasia, on the other hand, longer length from east to west.

It turns out that the first farmers to Eurasia at the disposal of the territory hit with long tracts of land along the same latitude. To develop a piece of land easier with similar climatic conditions. Domesticated several crops, farmers are quite easy to grow them from one end of the continent to the other.

Farmers of America and Africa, faced with the ever-changing climate: compare even Canada and Florida. Depending on the climate zone had to domesticate new plants. Therefore, agriculture is developed 2-3 times slower than in Europe and Asia.

For centuries, the differences become more significant: in countries where there was a lot of food, the population grew rapidly. Due to this there is a strong army, new technologies have been developed. The differences seemed small, over the centuries evolved into global.

There is no evidence that Eurasian farmers were more talented and motivate than farmers in other parts of the world. But they were able to develop agriculture is 2-3 times faster.

How to create a favorable environment for yourself

Even if you are the most talented and hard-working farmer in the world, you can not grow watermelon in the permafrost, because the snow - a poor substitute for the land.

If you want to increase your chances of success, you need to create an environment that will help you, not hinder.

Make good decisions automatically

Tunable surroundings so that it takes a good solution for you. For example, the purchase of small-sized plates will contribute to weight loss, because the serving size is predestined.

Researcher Brian Vansink (Brian Wansink) from Cornell University (USA) foundVan Ittersum, Koert, and Brian Wansink (2012).Plate Size and Color Suggestibility: The Delboeuf Illusion's Bias on Serving and Eating Behavior.That people begin to eat 22% less food, replacing the plates with a diameter of 30 cm to 25 cm diameter plate.

But procrastination can be overcome, blocking on your computer, social network and entertainment sites. And you do not need to spend willpower to fight the urge to look at the "VKontakte".

Build healthy habits into the flow of business as usual

A few years ago PetSmart project changed the purchase process in the machines. Once the customer credit card spending on the reader, a screen appears, offering to donate money to help homeless animals. This simple strategy has brought to the charitable account of $ 40 million per year.

Apply a similar strategy: any good habits are embedded in the flow of business as usual.

You will be easier to go to the gym, which is located on the way home from work, than one that is a five minute walk, but does not coincide with your route.

To increasingly play a musical instrument, put it in the middle of the room, though constantly catches the eye.

Eliminate the negative impact of external factors

Japanese TV manufacturers reorganized the workspace to save time by eliminating unnecessary turns and tilts the workers. And you can also equip their environment.

You do not want to eat junk food - do not buy it, and even more so do not put in a prominent place at home.

Never forget the influence of the ambient

We often blame external circumstances, when things go wrong. He lost his job - to blame for the crisis, lost the match - a judge on the soap, late for a meeting - damn cork.

However, when we win, happily credited himself. We hired - I am talented and likable, won the match - we practiced a lot, arrived in time for a meeting - I can organize your day.

It is important to remember that the environment spurs and good behavior and bad. People are easy to adhere to the correct habits, taking advantage of their surroundings. Others who pull teeth success, forced to fight even with external factors.

What looks like a lack of willpower, often the result of a failed environment. And in order to guarantee a win, you need to play in the right conditions.