Changing your environment to change your behavior -- my environmental change experiment, results & findings

1. Changes to my Environment to Change my Behavior
for Better Health
Mia Davis

2. #1

3. Goal: De-clutter my space to de-clutter
my mind
Before After

4. Problems before change:
 I would walk into my room and feel
instantly overwhelmed
 No room to do my work
 Did work on my bed
 Fall asleep without finishing work & without getting
ready for bed  get a bad night’s rest
 Took me a long time to pack my bag b/c
I couldn’t find anything
 Condition of room worsened b/c no
incentive to keep things clean/ organized

5. Results:
 Smile when I walk into my room 
 Instant relief, feeling of relaxation
 Can find my belongings
 Keep it clean because now it is clean
 Place to do my work (my desk)
- Actually go to bed, don’t just fall asleep
 Better rest, go through nighttime routine (put
on pjs, brush teeth, wash face, remove
contacts, etc.)

6. Piggyback:
Cleaned up my desktop! and changed the
background to something I found calming
 more organized  more productive
 less “noise”
Before After

7. #2

8. Goal: Take time out of my day to do a
little yoga
Before After
Yoga mat rolled up in closet Mat laid out in front of mirror

9. Problems before change:
 No “me” time in the day
 Felt guilty seeing yoga mat in closet
but never bringing it out to use it
 Not getting a lot of exercise because
too busy, and added setback of ankle
injury
 Love yoga, but no time for it 

10. Results:
Whenever I have 5-10 minutes, I can
easily sit on my mat and start doing
yoga, or just lie down and relax
5-10 minutes often turns into a
complete yoga session
 Quick and easy to do
 feels relaxing and I feel good afterward
Feels squishy under my feet  (I like this
feeling)

11. #3

12. Goal: not be so weighed down by my
backpack everyday
Choose ONE: laptop or iPad

13. Problems before change:
 Backpack really heavy because
carrying too much
 Sore back!
 Never used both iPad and laptop
anyway
 Couldn’t fit everything into my
backpack

14. Results:
 Backpack much less heavy on a daily basis
 Only carry what I need
 have to think about what I need, more
conscious of what I am bringing with me and
what I can leave at home
 Get more work done because I have to
choose whether I’m only bringing my iPad
(best for reading) or laptop (best for typing --
writing assignments/ sending emails
 Have to be decisive – a problem I regularly
wrestle with  helped me plan out my day

15. Overall Findings:
 Keep it simple – simple behavior change
 big rewards
 Identify your goal, then think about how
you can solve it (okay to use various
methods *think starfish* and see which
works best)
 Act when motivation wave is HIGH!
 If you set yourself up to succeed, you will
 Oftentimes, will achieve piggybacked
rewards on top of intended