# The Colour of Habit: How One Shade of Green Helps Me Show Up ## Neon green means movement. It’s not just a colour I like – it’s a cue I’ve trained my brain to respond to. **Published:** [[2025-07-29]] on [Idea Waypoints](https://ideawaypoints.substack.com/p/the-colour-of-habit-how-one-shade) **Keywords:** [[Habit loop]], [[Colour]], [[Apple Fitness Plus]], [[Apple, system colours|System colours (Apple)]], [[Focus mode]] **Reference:** [[duhigg2012PowerHabitWhy|Duhigg, Charles. (2012). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business]] **Related:** [[2025-07-30 Atomic Essay]] --- What if your workout didn’t start with motivation – but with a colour? I didn’t plan it, but now when it’s time to move, everything in my system turns neon green. Apple’s exercise ring became a reference point – and now it’s a nudge. My calendar block, watch face, phone Lock Screen, yoga mat, and even my workout headphones echo that same bright green. (Okay, the yoga mat was a coincidence. But a good one.) Over time, I’ve come to associate this specific green with movement. Like many people, I don’t love working out. I wish I did – but I’ve always preferred a quiet chair and a good book to counting steps. So I look for ways to reduce friction and make good habits easier to keep. And colour, it turns out, makes an excellent starting point. Visual cues might be more powerful than willpower. ### This is a habit loop. Charles Duhigg describes the habit loop as cue, routine, reward. For me, green is the cue. The routine is movement. The reward is momentum – and the satisfaction of having followed through. It didn’t start as a deliberate habit, but repetition trained the response. Now, the moment I see that green across my devices, my brain knows what comes next. The colour becomes the warm-up. ### Colour allows for flexibility. I use it intentionally across my personal system: watch face, phone Lock Screen, calendar events, Focus Mode, and yes, even my yoga mat. They all echo the bright green of Apple’s exercise ring. It’s a visual shorthand that tells me: this is when I put myself first. Movement, health, focus – it all starts with the same signal. One thing to note: this has been a gradual and intentional build up of colour, as well as making use of system tools. That yoga mat? It's older than I care to admit, but still going strong. The headphones were placing a broken pair – and bought with the intentionality of bringing in colour to act as a cue. And if you have an iPhone, it's worth looking into Focus modes and lock screens for customization. I'm happy to share some tips, but there's a lot that can be done exploring your settings. ### This is visual identification – by design. The same strategies we use in wayfinding – consistency, pattern recognition, simplicity – work just as well in personal systems. Colour is fast. It’s intuitive. It cuts through decision fatigue and gives you a starting point. Consistency makes things easy to recognize – and help see what stands out. And can reduce the cognitive load *and* friction. It’s not about motivation – it’s about designing systems that work for you. --- Over the next few days, I’ll explore how colour can support systems both public and personal: from public signage to your calendars. Today, I just want to make the case that colour can be more than aesthetic. It can be functional. Even foundational. --- **Today's question:** Do you have a colour that helps you shift into a specific mode or mindset?