The senses are linked in weird ways. You can change the way things taste by holding your nose when you eat them, because those senses work together to form the actual profile of what you’re eating in your brain.
I’m always wowed by the way sight contributes to those things. Want to know why putting a band-aid on a kid’s bruised finger makes them feel better, even though that makes no sense? “Pain” is just a signal from your body to your brain that something is damaged and you need to do something about it. But sight does that, too! If you see a big bruise on your arm, it will hurt more than the same bruise if you can’t see it.
Visual cues can make us calm or anxious, angry or happy – even hungry or hurt. If you put a snack on your desk while you work, you’ll get hungry and want that snack sooner than if you didn’t.
Which means, ultimately: control your vision. Put things in front of you that are visual cues to the behaviors and attitudes you want, as often as you can control such things. And put the other stuff far, far out of sight.
The Opportunity Machine 