Buzz
Visual reminders keep your goals front and center. However, there's another reason they're so effective: they can help you steadily foster improved habits. On the site Budgets are Sexy, blogger J. Money highlights that introducing a visual cue into your daily surroundings can prompt you to adjust your actions.
According to J. Money, creating a visual trigger involves two simple steps:
Identify an object that inspires you to take action.
Place this object in a prominent spot.
I recall a story about a man who set up a pull-up bar at the bottom of his stairs to encourage himself to exercise more. Every time he went downstairs—whether to get to the kitchen, take a shower, or go outside—he'd sneak in a couple of pushups, effortlessly hitting over 60 a day! All by adding a simple trigger to his environment.
Incorporating a trigger into your daily surroundings makes taking action effortless. Eventually, this action becomes a seamless part of your routine, turning into a habit.
J. Money highlights a money-related example of this principle. One individual created a paper chain to represent her debt, with each link worth $100. She placed the chain somewhere visible every day, and each time she paid off $100 of debt, she would remove a link. The chain acted as a visual motivator, encouraging her to take action.
We've previously discussed the power of visual reminders, but a trigger works slightly differently. A goal reminder taped to your credit cards, for instance, only comes into play when you take your card out. In contrast, a visual trigger integrated into your daily environment turns your action into an automatic response, eventually becoming a habit over time.
For more insights, check out the full post.
Photo by kristy.
