The whole point of a visual interface is to make visible what is possible with a given product. The actions that you most want a product user to perform should be the most visually prominent.
How many of you are reading this first?
Many of you probably read the above sentence before reading anything else in this email. You were scanning the email, and even though it's not the first sentence, it stuck out amongst everything in the email. Here are the reasons it stuck out:
- It is surrounded by white space (it's indented, and has more space above and below)
- It is more bold, and larger, than the rest of the text in the email.
- It interrupts a pattern. Much of the rest of the email is short paragraphs, in the same weight and size of font. The sentence in question is different.
For these same reasons, many of you probably noticed these above bullet points after the sentence. They interrupted a pattern, they stood out, and so, they were some of the first things you noticed as you scanned the email.
We can use these same principles in managing our own minds. The arrangement of our physical and mental worlds can shape our own actions.
How I redesigned my mind to read more
Take, for example, this problem that so many of us have: we check Facebook, Twitter, and email compulsively. We do this far beyond the point of getting utility out of this behavior, so much so that we might even feel bad about ourselves once we realize hours have passed, and we haven't produced anything.
The reason we fall prey to this is simple: we love to get little dopamine hits, and the discipline center of our brain gets tired quickly. Whenever we get a little mentally fatigued, we want to get that dopamine hit ASAP. Checking Facebook is a sure way to get that quickly - unfortunately, this activity doesn't add up to anything over time.
It's like Facebook has become this big button in your consciousness with a big, fat "DOPAMINE" written on it.
The trick to overcoming this is to rearrange your mind - or even the physical world that manages your mind - so you are well-equipped to replace this habit with something else.
I recently wanted to start reading more. It wasn't out of a misguided sense of discipline. I knew that I LOVED to read, but the world is full of distractions that make it tough to read. I took a three-pronged approach to getting myself to do more reading:
1. I cut out distractions (like creating white space)
If I was going to increase the importance of reading in my life, I was going to have to cut out the things that were keeping me FROM reading. So, I changed a few things to make it easier:
- I installed a Facebook news feed-blocking Chrome extension. Now, when I use Facebook for interacting with the D4H Video Community, or just compulsively visit, I don't get sucked into the news feed.
- I took distracting apps off of the home screen of my iPhone. Most people put their most-used apps on the home screen of their iPhones, but I hid distracting apps like Facebook & Twitter in a folder. Conversely, I put reading-related apps like Audible and Kindle on the home screen.
2. I increased the "hierarchy" of reading in my physical world (like making something big and bold)
Once distractions were cut out, I needed to make it easier for me to engage in the activity of reading.
- I switched to physical books. I still love my Kindle, but it's too easy for electronic books to fall out of my consciousness. I love how physical books are there to remind you of their presence. So, I started buying physical books again. I'm reading several at a time, so I keep them stacked up, then shelve them once I'm finished with them, or lose interest (you can subscribe to my book recommendations, by the way). I even try to bring a book with me for when I wait for appointments. I still sometimes read books on the Kindle app on my phone, but that's just inviting more distraction.
- I bought a $600 reading lamp. After lots of shopping, I realized I would have to spend $600 to get a reading lamp that I really liked. That's a lot of money to spend on a reading lamp for me, but I'm glad I did it. First of all, I like interacting with the lamp. It's very well-designed, with smooth controls, and perfectly adjustable brightness and direction. But, it's also $600. I always remember that I spent that much on the lamp, so it reminds me to actually use my purchase, and read more. Many people spend way more than $600 on a television set that looms over their living room, so I'm glad to have an expensive lamp looming over my living room instead.
3. I re-framed my perception of reading (like creating a pattern interrupt)
Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter have trained us for bite-sized chunks of information, and I always felt an obligation, when picking up a book, to read the whole book, and to do so linearly. There are a couple of things I did to counter this:
- I gave myself permission to start off reading in layers, to start and finish in whatever part of the book I wish, and to not feel obligated to finish every book I read. Starting to read used to feel like a daunting "project," but now I've reduced it in my mind to something as simple as looking at my phone. The trick I'm playing on myself here is that reading a book is almost always more rewarding than looking at my phone.
- I made reading & books a high financial priority. The Internet has gotten us used to not paying for things that we read. The downside is that if we aren't paying for the things we read, we're paying by putting our eyeballs on distracting ads. I've given myself permission to buy books without thinking about what they cost. If I THINK about buying a book, I just buy it. Add to that the fact that I spent $600 on a reading lamp, and books and reading are clearly a big financial priority to me. "I spent all of this money on these books and this reading lamp, so I might as well use them," my subconscious says. So, I end up reading much more.
How can you redesign your mind?
I have a two-part question for you:
- What's something that you want to achieve, that you just can't seem to make a priority?
- How can you redesign your mind to be successful in this?
(Success stories also welcome) As always, I read every response.
Best,
David