Owning the stuff associated with a particular activity does not equate to doing it. If we want to start or maintain a habit, we need to protect our time, not buy the requisite gear. That’s why so many treadmills become clothes drying racks.

However, purging our homes of stuff can go a long way in preventing us from doing something we’d like to stop.

James Clear writes about habit formation, and refers to the “stuff” of our habits as environmental cues. Their presence can trigger us into completing the habit loop, which then strengthens the association in our minds between that object and that habit.

While it’s not always a magic bullet, eliminating those environmental cues can weaken that habit loop, giving us a better chance of quitting.

If we want to quit sugar, tossing all the candy in our home is a great start. When we have a craving for something sweet, we are very likely to reach into our home-based candy stash. We are less likely to grab our keys, head to the store, and buy candy.

If we’re not ready to purge entirely, we can consider moving an item out of prime real estate, making retrieval more complicated. We can also store those tempting items out of sight using opaque containers, or closed doors or drawers.

I don’t want to be in the habit of drinking every day, but I like having wine in the house for special occasions or entertaining. The wine rack lives on top of my cabinets, which I can’t reach without standing on a stool.

This doesn’t need to be reserved for the typical vices either. If we want a quicker morning routine, purging our closets, our cosmetics options, etc down to the essentials will prompt that shift without any day-to-day decision making. The non-essentials can either leave the house entirely, or be stored out of prime real estate so we’re not contending with it each and every day.

Remember, time plus inconvenience is the antidote to impulses.