My Environment

 My Environment

By

Antonis Antoniou

 

Did you ever wonder why some products in the supermarket are right by the counter?

The answer is simple. You see them, you buy them even if you don’t need them.

Studies have shown that the placement of one product is as important as pricing. People often buy a product not for what they are, but because of where they are. At the same time, if I walk in the kitchen and see a plate full of biscuits what are the chances of eating only one? If in place of the biscuits, I have bananas and apples, am I going to look for biscuits?

Let me give you one more example. When a couple welcomes in the family a newborn baby what they want is to help so they grow up in safety. What do they do in the house? They rearrange everything for the safety of the baby. No dangerous objects around, less furniture, safety doors, etc.

Why don’t we do the same with us?

The environment is the invisible enemy or friend that shapes human behavior. Even though we are unique as personalities, certain behaviors tend to show up again and again when the environment conditions us to do so.

For example, in the church, if you want to talk, you will whisper. On the other hand, in a stadium you will yell and scream, even curse without any good reason. Why? The environment. When you walk alone, in the dark, in a strange city, you tend to be extra cautious, compared to a walk in your neighborhood in the morning.

Vision is the most important of our sensors. Ten million sensors of our body work on our vision. What we see determines in so many ways our decision-making. In my office, in every school I worked at, I insisted on having decent chairs and not plastic ones, even a couch if possible. Why? It looks better. I have paintings and flowers. Why? It makes you feel better and many times I have been told that my office looks nothing like the rest of the school. What do I gain? They respect the place more, and they behave differently. By improving the work environment, I improve the behavior of my students. In other words, we don’t have to be victims of the environment, but we can build better and of higher quality conditions. 

If you place a couple of books by your bed, a couple more on the couch, and have the furniture away from the TV, what are the chances of reading a page or two? Higher than if every chair is placed watching the TV and no books are around. Every behavior is initiated by what we see around us. I often tell my colleagues that if, when I go home put on my exercise shoes and shorts the chances of going to the gym are higher irrelevant to how self-motivated I am or not.

By creating obvious visual cues, you create easier desired behavior.

Environmental design is powerful.

You can be the designer of your environment or a follower of the environment that others designed for you.

The choice is yours!