“You don’t have to be the victim of your environment. You can also be the architect of it.”
Two birds, two rooms
I like making my life easier. One resource that has helped me do that is Atomic Habits by James Clear. It gives some great advice on how to create lasting habits.
A key component to building a habit is your environment. It can be as simple as this: If there is a bag of chips on your table, it can trigger you to want to eat a chip. Atomic Habits suggests setting up your environment to promote desirable habits as well as deter undesirable ones. If you hide the chips, you’re less likely to eat them. If you put out a bowl of apples instead, you’re more likely to eat those.
Another resource that promotes this idea is Spaceship You by CGP Grey. I loved this video during the pandemic! CGP Grey focuses on doing specific activities in designated areas. Your bed is for sleeping, not for doom scrolling. However, the pandemic also heightened one of the difficulties with this idea because our environments became limited.
What if you have multiple activities that utilize the same environment?
Even worse, what if those activities pull you in opposite directions? One activity is your brain challenging itself, the other is time flying while relaxing.
Can you think of an “environment” that does both of these for many people?
Your computer.
In an ideal case, you could have two different machines in two different rooms. You don’t even have to stop at two. We use computers, laptops, and tablets for a vast, limitless range of tasks and pursuits. I’ve heard from one guy who has a different iPad for each of his projects. Unfortunately for me, during the pandemic, I had one machine, a PC.
However, I transformed it into two machines by partitioning it. I had Windows installed for my day job as a structural engineer, working mostly with Excel and AutoCAD. When I was not working, I switched to my Ubuntu partition while I began learning Python, played games, and browsed the web.
This worked fine, but I like the analog. My brain knows that my environment has changed from Windows to Ubuntu but my eyes just see lights shining in a box in front of me.
Two birds, two rooms
Last year, I came up with a new system. I just so happened to get a Christmas gift from one of my cousins (thank you, Adam!) that helped inspire the system. It is a doll of Kiri, a kenku character from Critical Role.
The idea is simple. I have another doll that just so happens to be a duck that I won at an arcade in Japan. I keep the duck doll in my room in the closet. Meanwhile, Kiri lives on my desk, front and center.
When Kiri is on the desk, it’s time to work. When the duck is on the desk, it’s time to relax.
The system is improved with the doorways. If I want to take a break from work, I have to get up from my desk, leave the office, go to my room, get the duck, and bring it to my desk. Think of all the times you have forgotten something just by walking from one room to the next. Doorways are powerful things.
I also make it a point to always swap them. The two shall never meet. If I forget Kiri while getting the duck, too bad. I have to take the journey again to complete the swap.
I find staying honest with myself on this system is easy. It doesn’t cross my mind to cheat the system. Having to get up and swap them is enough friction too, that it makes me consciously decide to swap modes. If I get the urge to watch something on YouTube, I ask myself, “Is it really time to get the duck?”
An added bonus is that the duck’s mouth is a pouch! I keep a small notepad inside the mouth. When I get the duck out on my desk, I write my start time, and when I am done, I write the end time and the time that elapsed. I don’t analyze the data, but it makes me more conscious with how I spend my time. I’ve gamified it, seeing if I can accurately spend the time I want where I want to.
You can use this system just about anywhere with just about any two trinkets. I hope you find two birds that can help you too!