Discipline isn't the most common habit among people with self-control, says bestselling author—here's what is

Many people think that if they’re determined enough — if they push themselves really hard — they’ll be able to create better habits.

Those people are missing an important piece to the puzzle of self-control, according to James Clear, author of The New York Times bestselling book “Atomic Habits.” Even if you’re disciplined, you likely need to put yourself in environments that allow you to stay that way, free of distractions or opportunities to be tempted out of your habits-in-progress, Clear told “The Mel Robbins Podcast” in a Jan. 8 episode.

“When you look at people who exhibit high levels of self-control, the common pattern across them is not that they have higher discipline than the average person,” he said. “The common pattern is that they are in situations where they’re tempted less frequently.”

If you’re avoiding alcohol while doing Dry January for the first time, for example, you may not want to go to happy hour with your friends, where external pressures or fear of missing out could sway you. The goal is to stay away from temptation, not resist it.

“You don’t need to try to be more disciplined. You don’t need to wish that you were a person with more willpower,” said Clear. “You need to take a little bit of time to design an environment where you’re not tempted as frequently ... That could mean simple things like not having chips in the house or not having cigarettes in the house or things like that.”