Sweet Incentives

Thinking back on what I wrote about as barriers in Step 2 of this challenge, many of these barriers naturally disappeared. One barrier in which I talked about was simply being too tired and stressed about other things to remember to take shorter and colder showers. While this definitely was a major barrier for me during the  beginning of the challenge, as the challenge went on, it was easier and easier for me to remember. Without even attempting to think about it, as soon as I stepped into the shower I began to instantly remember that I should take a shorter shower. And I also began to remember that maybe it was okay to make the shower a little colder. I soon learned that making the shower colder also encouraged me to get out of there much, much sooner. I knew that a lot of people were helped out by notes and other reminders, but for me, just creating a consistent habit was all that it took to overcome the barrier of a forgetful attitude.

When I heard that adding benefits was a theme for step 4, I immediately liked this idea. For me, I have a personality that likes to see immediate benefits from my actions and adding benefits for taking shorter showers was an incentive that I knew would help me. To this idea turn into success, I set up a system that would work for me. First, I would set a timer on my phone as soon as I turned the water on. My goal was to have the water off within 5 minutes of turning it on. If I was able to accomplish this goal, I allowed myself to have a milky way from the bag of candy in my room. Not exactly the greatest snack to have in the morning before breakfast, but it proved to be effective. I was thinking about adding another incentive to take shorter showers, but this ended up being enough.

 

When I started to think about if this behavior would be something I would want to continue to do, I realize that I believe I can do it. Taking more environmentally friendly showers has truly become a habit that I don’t even have to think about. I’m not sure if continuing to eat milky ways is a good idea for my diet as I get older, but this habit that I’ve creating through this challenge is something that I believe I can continue as I get older.