# data[].attributes.body
To prepare for my new habit, I created multiple new alarms on my phone named "Two minutes. Go!" I set the alarm to go off three times a day.

"Easy peasy," I thought. "This is going to be cake."

I plan on keeping notes of my progress using my cellphone. I made a table using Google Docs so I could analyze my notes at the end of each week.

# data[].attributes.body
Analysis:

At the beginning of week 1, I was so sure that there was no way I was going to miss any of my new behavior opportunites. The first day I started tracking was Sunday, my day off. Performing my new habit of stomach vacuuming did not pose a problem at all. On Monday, my morning routine went well. Later that day at work, I didn’t feel like I could really give the breathing process the full attention it needs in order to be beneficial. By Tuesday, that feeling caused me to skip my midday opportunity. Then later, I felt less motivated and skipped my evening opportunity. This led me to modifying my routine and shifting my midday opportunity to later in the day, both days this week I was able to be in my car at 4:00pm, therefore I felt comfortable performing my new habit.

Areas of Improvement:

I modified my midday routine to raise my chances of performing my new behavior, moving it to later in the day when I could be alone in my car.

For next week:

From the chart, I can see that on nights that I skip, I’ve noted that I am more tired the next morning. Next week, I plan on notating my behavior the nights that I skip and see what might be causing the negative feelings the next morning.

# data[].attributes.body
Analysis:

Sundays are one of my usual days off. That night when my alarm went off, I was relaxing on the couch with my boyfriend and a glass of wine. I snoozed it twice, and eventually turned it off. Not only did I miss my evening opportunity, but the environment I was in affected me the next morning. I did my stomach vacuuming, but I didn’t feel great about it. I think the negative feelings from Monday morning cause me to want to skip on Tuesday. Luckily, that night I made myself perform the habit, even though I did not want to at all. On Wednesday I was back in the game, killing it with consistency!

Areas of Improvement:

I’ve determined that the nights that cause me to be more tired the next day are typically nights where I get invested in spending time relaxing. I think it is important to take time and focus on “doing nothing” from time to time, but I need to plan accordingly.

For next week:

I need to modify my alarm times based on my plans for the day. If I know I plan to relax in the evening, I should perform my evening opportunity before I get into a relaxed mindset.

# data[].attributes.body
Analysis:

The beginning of the week started off great! I knew I was going to relax Sunday night, so I set my alarm two hours earlier for my evening opportunity. The next morning I felt motivated by the fact that I had successfully monitored and modified my behavior to encourage positive results. By Tuesday, I started to lose momentum when I struggled to feel comfortable stomach vacuuming at work again. The cold weather makes me not want to go out to my car, causing me to usually skip my midday opportunity.

Area of Improvement:

The lack of comfort during my midday opportunity is showing a constant negative impact on my behavior change. Missing one opportunity leads to lack of enthusiasm and discouragement.

For Next Week:

I plan to move my midday opportunity and turn it into a midmorning opportunity. I leave for work at 10:45am. I will practice stomach vacuuming on my way to work every day in order to generate more consistency with my behavior change.

# data[].attributes.body
Just finished transcribing and fully evaluating weeks 1-3.

In the beginning, I was very enthusiastic. The table I'm using to track my consistency indicated that when I am consistent with my behavior change for the entire day, I am more likely to continue with my new behavior the next day. But when I miss, I have a harder time getting motivated the next day.

Staying consistent is harder than I had originally thought. As the semester progresses, I will continue to modify my plan each week in order to provide the best environment to support my behavior change.

# data[].attributes.body
Analysis:

Sundays are almost always my best days and when I am most likely to feel good about all three opportunities. Monday was my first day back at work since changing the time of my midday session. Performing my new habit on the way to work has shown a lot of positive results. This is the most consistent I have been in completing all my second stomach vacuuming sessions of the day.

Area of Improvement:

Since the first week, I have continuously fallen short of at least one session every single Friday. Fridays are my second day off every week. By then, I feel worn out, pressed for time for all of my school work, and less energetic than I do other days.

For Next Week:

I plan to push myself extra hard this Friday, while still focussing on my previous behavior goals of stomach vacuuming on my way to work and planning my session times based on my daily schedule.

# data[].attributes.body
Analysis:

The night before this Sunday, I went out and was up much later than normal. The next morning, my body did not feel 100%, but by later in the day, I felt that I performed my stomach vacuuming well. I stayed consistent until Wednesday morning, when I skipped because I felt I didn’t have time because I had extra errands to run before work that morning. My goal this week was to complete all three opportunities on my day off on Friday, which i did! I felt good about that accomplishment the next day.

Area of Improvement:

I feel that by now, I have successfully identified all of the barriers in my life that may inhibit me from performing my new behavior. I need to work on becoming more consistent in completing 3 stomach vacuuming sessions every day.

For Next Week:

As of right now, I should have modified my plan enough that I should not have reason to skip any stomach vacuuming opportunity.

# data[].attributes.body
Analysis:

As usual, the week started out strong. Monday night was my birthday, so I chose not to set an alarm. My first few days of being a 23-year-old that stomach vacuums regularly were going really well. I had even started to notice the physical benefits of stomach vacuuming. I felt really good! The weekend came and we celebrated my birthday. I don’t go out often. When my routine is thrown off, I have a hard time adjusting. On Saturday, which is usually my most consistent day, I did not stomach vacuum even once.

Area of Improvement:

I lost a lot of momentum at the end of this week. I need to get motivated and start understanding what environmental cues are discouraging me from consistently completing my new behavior.

For Next Week:

I need to work on not skipping so frequently. When I do skip, I’m going to notate the specific reason I chose not to stomach vacuum. This will allow me to pinpoint how I can shape my physical environment for success.

# data[].attributes.body
In week four, I implemented what I thought could be the last change to my behavior change plan. Weeks five and six were spent focusing on consistency.

By the end of week 6, I was showing a decline in motivation. Stomach vacuuming had become boring. Realistically, there is no need to perform the behavior more than once a day. If I could determine what time of the day I am most likely to vacuum, I could change my habit from something that requires my attention multiple times a day to only once a day, just for a longer period of time.

Moving forward, I've changed the focus of my analysis towards my environments and what situations cause me to skip. This will help me conclude which time of day I am most likely to stomach vacuum.

# data[].attributes.body
After 6 weeks of only being so/so successful, I decided to modify my behavior change plan a bit. Unfortunately, I quickly lost all motivation. For the first few days I snoozed my alarm for every opportunity, then eventually I quit setting them all together.

Once I stopped, I had a really hard time getting started again. A few weeks had gone by and I had been completely avoiding stomach vacuuming and other ways I typically use to stay physically well, like lifting and yoga.

After analyzing my initial behavior change plan, I realized that it was not designed very well.  My plan was far too complex to become second nature. It took too much willpower to convince myself to do something like stomach vacuuming multiple times a day. This assignment has helped me better understand how to build a more successful behavior change agenda because I learned what definitely does not work. In the future, I plan to focus more on controlling environmental cues, setting more realistic expectations, and offering consistent rewards for positive behaviors.