I have decided to challenge myself! I’ve heard that in order for something to become a habit, you need to do something consistently for 30 days. I have a number of habit’s I’d like to adopt, so I’m going to turn it into a bit of a game. I’ve been discussing with Kyle, and it makes the most sense to me to grade myself mathematically. Kyle will possibly be working with my parents to come up with different levels of reward for different end grades. This has been difficult, because one of my main points is to spend less money, so having a monetary prize at the end — no matter how much i would love that — is kind of counter productive to my goal. We’re working on something that will still be a good motivator but without compromising the intent of the whole shebang.
Essentially I’d like to:
- Bike more
- Read more
- Spend less money
- Stretch regularly
- And to make it all possible, go to bed at specific reasonable times
I will outline each category more specifically, and each day I’ll get a grade out of 5 for each category. These will be averaged for a daily averaged, which will be averaged as I go along, ending with an overall grade out of 5.
Biking
Allowed one day off a week (for 5 stars)
★★★★★ – 1hour of biking before work or first thing on days off.
★★★★☆ – 45minutes of biking before work or first thing / 1hour of biking later in the day.
★★★☆☆ – .5hour of biking before work or first thing / 45hour of biking later in the day.
★★☆☆☆ – Biked to work, or biked a relatively small distance similar to work for days off.
★☆☆☆☆ – Walked to work, no biking or walked a relatively small distance similar to work for days off.
☆☆☆☆☆ – No biking 😦
Reading
Allowed 1 day off a week (for 3 stars)
★★★★★ – 1 hour+ of reading
★★★★☆ – 1 hour of reading
★★★☆☆ – 45min of reading
★★☆☆☆ – 30min of reading
★☆☆☆☆ – 15min of reading
☆☆☆☆☆ – no reading
Spending
★★★★★ – Spent no money. Not even a coffee.
★★★★☆ -Bought one coffee
★★★☆☆ – Bought an ordered item at HMV/ bought coffee + muffin
★★☆☆☆ -Ate out/bought lunch at mall
★☆☆☆☆ – impulse buy
☆☆☆☆☆ – Oh god, I bought a purse. (expensive impulse buy)
Stretching
★★★★★ – Stretched before, after bike and before sleep (on non-bike days, in the morning + before bed)
★★★★☆ – Stretched 2/3 times
★★★☆☆ – Stretched 1/2 times on a non-bike day
★★☆☆☆ – Stretched 1/3 times
☆☆☆☆☆ – No stretching 😦
Sleep
Allowed to stay up slightly later the night before non-bike day. Grade varies on other factors, not penalized for later night.
★★★★★ – 1hour of quiet time before bed (no tv, no computer, no video games, etc. Good for reading time!) Sleep at a good reasonable 8.5 hours before time to get up. Prepare lunch if working next day.
★★★★☆ -.5-.75hour of quiet time / 7-8hours of sleep.
★★★☆☆ – at least .5hour of quiet time. 6 hours of sleep.
★★☆☆☆ – at least .5hour of quiet time. Second 6 hour night of sleep.
★☆☆☆☆ – 0-little quiet time / 6-4 hours of sleep.
☆☆☆☆☆ -No quiet time, only 4 hours of sleep.
* graded on intent of going to sleep, not actually sleeping. Say if I lay awake in bed for hours for no reason, its not my fault no points off 😛
Coming soon… Prizes
I’m not sure when day 1 is yet… My bike is currently in the shop. I’m hoping to try to regulate my sleep over the next week to get prepared. Next week start, maybe?
I also haven’t decided if they’ll be evenly weighted in the average… A lot of the goals require the sleep to go well, so maybe heavier weight for that grade?
arkickulate 
A great plan. Something I think all of us would be better off adopting.