What Google’s M&M Jars Taught Me About Willpower

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“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”

Leonardo da Vinci

10 years back, my interior designer wanted to put a bar cart in my house.

Put liquor in plain sight and you’re subconsciously primed.

Move it out of sight and the thought doesn’t form.

I didn’t want bottles on display.

They went in a cabinet with closed doors instead.

In Google’s Manhattan office the candy sat out in the open, in full view of anyone walking past. Google moved the M&Ms into opaque jars and put the dried figs and pistachios into glass ones.

Over seven weeks the staff ate 3.1 million fewer calories in M&Ms.

The M&Ms were still there. Friction affected their decisions.

Shape your environment. Then it shapes you.

How can you change your environment to delete a daily decision?