There was a problem at the airport. Men were missing the urinals. This was creating a need to increase the cleaning budget to keep the bathrooms clean. The cleaning department decided to try an experiment and created a small sticker that looked like a fly. They placed this sticker in the urinal and located it where when to aim at the bug men created less splash-over as their aim was significantly better. The spillage around the urinals was reduced. The stickers reduced bathroom cleaning costs by 8% and increased cleanliness.

This story is significant in that a visual cue triggered a positive reaction.

Here are a few ways you can create positive actions with a visual cue.

You sometimes forget to take your daily medications. A visual cue could be to place your bottle pill in a special place next to your toothbrush in your bathroom. You brush your teeth every day and then take your medication.

You have made a commitment to practice the guitar more frequently. Instead of putting your guitar away in the closet where you do not see it consider getting a guitar stand and placing your guitar in a convenient place where you like to study or relax.

You have committed to sending more hand-written thank you notes. If so, then keep a box of thank you note cards right on your desk.

You have decided to drink more water. You can establish some visual cue by filling up three or four bottles in the morning and placing them in strategic locations you frequent each day.

These visual cues are designed by you and placed in your environment. You can design your environment so that you create good habits that lead you to accomplish your objectives.

You can alter the spaces where you live and work to increase your exposure to a visual cue. You can also reduce your exposure to a negative cue. I know a smoker that likes to smoke while sitting on her back deck. In fact, just going out on her back deck triggers her to smoke a cigarette. This is a bad habit. A visual cue may be to rearrange the furniture so that it is different (it helps to break the pattern of smoking). Another action could be to remove anything associated with smoking (the ashtray for example). She makes a cup of coffee and sips it on the deck while smoking. Another action could be to never bring a cup of coffee out to the deck (until the pattern has been broken).

If you create cues for doing positive things, then also think about cues for negative things that you do (or don’t do). Doing both will be very positive for you.

Be the architect of your life. Take back control. You can design your life.