Healthful Living Challenge

I am currently taking the class Healthful Living.  In this course I am learning about ways to create new habits and get rid of bad ones in order to have more than just health but to have wellness also.  We were challenged to (as an assignment) make a change on a target habit (a habit that you want to get rid of or make better).  I have decided to take this opportunity to give myself an extra push and make changes in seven areas of my life.  I am starting very small in some areas (dental and nutrition) and giving myself a big push in others (hydrate and physical).    My first week is this week, so I start implementing these target habit changes today. Here are my goals for the first two weeks (weeks are from Monday to Sunday):

Target Habit	Motivation	Date for Upgrade
1. Environment: Keep room and bathroom clean every day (includes making bed).	Permitted to go into a LYS, Hobby Lobby, Michaels or JoAnn’s.	Feb. 4
2. Nutrition: Eat at least 1 serving of fruit and vegetables a day.	Permitted to bake something the next week.	Feb. 4
3. Physical: Walk dogs 2 times a week; do crunches 3 times a week.	Permitted to read a book for pleasure and/or check out a library book the next week.	Feb. 4
4. Dental: Brush teeth twice a day, every day!	Permitted to get a Starbucks the next week on a day other than Tuesday night.	Feb. 4
5. Hydrate: Drink 2 bottles (34 fl. Oz.) every day.	Permitted to get a Starbucks the next week on a day other than Tuesday night.	Feb. 4
6. School: Complete week readings by Tuesday night.	Permitted to use Barnes and Nobles night on Tuesday as leisure time if completed.  If not completed, must do readings instead.	Feb. 4
7. Work:  Apply to at least one place, every week.	Permitted to go into a LYS, Hobby Lobby, Michaels or JoAnn’s.	Feb. 4

*Note: If duplicate Motivation then both target habits must be achieved to be permitted. If only one achieved then motivation is not permitted.

*Upgrade only occurs if target habit achieved two weeks in a row.  If not achieved for two week consecutively then target habit remains the same and is not increased.

 

If I achieve these target changes for both of the first two weeks then I will progress to these new target changes for the next two weeks:

Target Habit (changes in bold)	Motivation	Date for Upgrade
1. Environment: Keep room and bathroom clean every day (includes making bed). + keep desk cleared off.	Permitted to go into a LYS, Hobby Lobby, Michaels or JoAnn’s.	Feb. 18
2. Nutrition: Eat at least 2 serving of fruit and vegetables a day.	Permitted to bake something the next week.	Feb. 18
3. Physical: Walk dogs 3 times a week; do crunches 4 times a week; do push-ups 3 times a week.	Permitted to read a book for pleasure and/or check out a library book the next week.	Feb. 18
4. Dental: Brush teeth twice a day, every day! Floss at least once a week.	Permitted to get a Starbucks the next week on a night other than Tuesday night.	Feb. 18
5. Hydrate: Drink 3 bottles (51 fl. Oz) every day.	Permitted to get a Starbucks the next week on a day other than Tuesday night.	Feb. 18
6. School: Complete week readings by Tuesday night. Study anatomy in spare time-learning at least three pages a week completely.	Permitted to use Barnes and Nobles night on Tuesday as leisure time if completed.  If not completed, must do readings instead.	Feb. 18
7. Work:  Apply to at least one place, every week. *Will be decided when upgrade is achieved	Permitted to go into a LYS, Hobby Lobby, Michaels or JoAnn’s.	Feb. 18

The next part was to make a contract with myself for each target change.  They are pretty redundant so I am only going to paste one up.  Here is my contract for Physical:

Health Behavior Change Contract: Physical

1.  I agree to walk the dogs 2 times a week and do crunches 3 times a week.

2.  I will begin on January 24, 2011 and plan to keep this habit until February 4, 2011 at which time I will re-assess my current state and decide if it is time for me to upgrade my goal.

3.  To reach my final goal, I will give myself the reward listed:

I will be permitted to read a book for pleasure and/or check out a library book the next week.

4.  I have gathered and analyzed data on my target behavior and have identified the following strategies for changing my behavior:  I need to make sure that I take the dogs for a walk in the morning right after mom leaves for work so I don’t make excuses during the day.  I can do crunches when I start getting tired to avoid taking a nap.

5.  I will use the following tools to monitor my progress toward my final goal: 1. Print out weekly calendars to record what I achieved for each day under each target change. 2 Make a post on my blog at the end of every week (weeks are Monday to Sunday) summarizing how I did that week and what I am permitted and not permitted to do for the next week. 3. Talk with my parents about what they observed in my behavior and target habits for the week.

So as the contract says, I will be posting updates on my blog about my progress.  This will keep me accountable (I hope!)  Which me luck!

Love, 

LeeAnn