Solving Procrastination: Change Your Environment, Change Your Life | S03 E08

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Read Adam’s book Motivate on the most up-to-date science of motivation. Bit.ly/motivate-book

The most frustrating part of self-improvement is the loop: you promise you will change, you push with willpower, you slip, then you blame your character. We take a different angle here: the strongest motivation research points to environment as the main driver of behavior, and “discipline” is often just what your setup makes easy. Once you see that, the shame drops and the strategy gets practical.

We dig into the fundamental attribution error, why popular motivation narratives over-focus on grit, and how tiny design choices shape outcomes. We trade real examples: the cookie problem in your kitchen, smoking triggers that vanish when context changes, and the surprising Vietnam veterans heroin findings that show how access and stress can create addiction, and how a new environment can undo it. We also talk Rat Park, the opioid crisis as a disease of despair, and how enriched lives reduce the pull of destructive “buttons.”

Then we zoom out to systems: crime as a social context issue, policy as environment design, and Advanced Peace as a proven gun violence prevention approach that can save lives and public money. We even get into feng shui as a reminder that space affects mood and attention, whether you explain it as energy or psychology. If you want to read more, work more, eat differently, or build a better life, the question becomes: what can you redesign so the right choice is the default?

Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who is tired of “just try harder,” and leave a review if this reframes how you think about motivation. What part of your environment will you change first?

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Email: [e-mail]
Adam: @ajbraus - [e-mail]
Scot: @scotmaupin

adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books)
The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast)

Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.