To curb bad habits, add friction to make them harder (e.g., move junk food out of the house). To build good habits, remove friction to make them easier (e.g., lay out gym clothes). This physical approach is more reliable than willpower.

Your environment—people, content, and places—constantly reinforces your mental state. To reprogram your mind, you must simultaneously cultivate a new environment that supports your future self, rather than one that anchors you to your past.

The human brain is hardwired to focus on novelty. To disrupt ingrained habits and beliefs, physically alter your environment. Rearranging your furniture or repainting a room creates a novel stimulus that signals to your primal brain that change is underway, making you more receptive to new behaviors.

Willpower is unreliable. Instead, proactively design your surroundings to support your goals. Make desired actions incredibly easy (e.g., clothes laid out for the gym) and undesired actions difficult (e.g., snacks in a hard-to-reach place). It's easier to avoid temptation than to fight it.

Lasting behavior change comes from architecting your environment to make good habits the path of least resistance. Ask of any room: "What is this space designed to encourage?" Then, redesign it to make your desired behavior obvious and easy, rather than depending on finite willpower.

The restorative effects of nature can be accessed even without being outdoors. Studies show that incorporating elements like artificial plants, nature sounds, or nature-themed art into indoor spaces can improve cognitive performance and well-being. This is a practical strategy for 'naturizing' offices, homes, and hospitals.

To develop agency, consistently engage in "making" things—from cooking a meal to tinkering with code. This process reveals that the world is built by ordinary people, empowering you to believe you can also change and create things.

Minor physical disruptions to your routine environment, like turning your chair or walking a familiar path differently, can trick your brain out of autopilot. This creates a new perspective and stimulates curiosity with minimal effort, sparking new neural pathways for creativity.

When frustrated that someone isn't meeting your needs (e.g., "He should put the toilet seat down"), the "turnaround" shifts the responsibility back to you ("I should put it down"). This is an act of self-care, empowering you to solve your own problem instead of waiting for others.