1. How To Exercise
More
A Guide to Changing Your
Environment and Your Behavior
By Karl Kumodzi
kumodzi@gmail.com

2. So, I Wanted To Work Out More…
But I just couldn’t seem to MOTIVATE myself or
find the time!

3. Sound Familiar?
Here’s what I did.

4. Step 1
• I packed gym clothes in my backpack all day

5. Step 2
• I studied at the library (near the gym) instead
of at my dorm (far from the gym) on Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday nights

6. Step 3
• When I finished at the library, I stopped by the
gym on my way home!

7. Here’s How I Did It

8. I asked myself, “What needs to
change?”
Then I looked at three things.

9. -
1. Target Behavior (go to the gym,
What exactly do you want to do?
go for a run, do pushups, etc.)
- The more precise, the better

10. -
1. Target Behavior (go to the gym,
What exactly do you want to do?
go for a run, do pushups, etc.)
- The more precise, the better
2. Environment
- How is your environment preventing you from
achieving your target behavior?
- How can you change your environment to be
more conducive to your target behavior?

11. -
1. Target Behavior (go to the gym,
What exactly do you want to do?
go for a run, do pushups, etc.)
- The more precise, the better
2. Environment
- How is your environment preventing you from
achieving your target behavior?
- How can you change your environment to be
more conducive to your target behavior?
3. Triggers
- How can you remind yourself to do these things?

12. Target Behavior
• The more precise (or crispy) you make this,
the better your chances of doing it
• I call the process of making a goal crispy,
“frying” it
• You increase your chances even more by
attaching it to something you already do every
day, like brushing your teeth (hopefully),
getting dressed, or doing your homework

13. EXAMPLE

14. Frying The Target Behavior
Crispy
Not Crispy
“I want to exercise “I want to go to the gym for
one hour every Monday and
more” Wednesday night after I’m
done working on my
homework.

15. Tips On Frying Goals Into Target
Behaviors
• Ask yourself…
– Where?
– When?
– Before or after what?
– For how long?
– How often?

16. Ability & Environment
• Ask yourself:
– On a scale of 1 – 10, how hard is this to do?
– How can you manipulate your environment to
make it easier to do?

17. EXAMPLE

18. Ability
Hard To Do Easier To Do
Run 20 miles every
Go to the gym for 1 hour,
day of the week. three different days a week.

19. Ability And Environment
• You can manipulated your environment to
increase your ability
• If you usually study/do homework in your
dorm room, which is far from the gym, it can
be too hard to leave your comfortable room
sometimes
• So why don’t you study/do homework at the
library, or somewhere closer to the gym, and
keep your gym clothes in your backpack?

20. TRIGGER
• A trigger is a prompt, or a call to action. It
reminds you to perform your target behavior
when everything else is in place.
• I set an alarm for my trigger, so when my
alarm went off I’d stop working, pack up my
stuff, and head to the gym.

21. IT WORKED

22. RECAP
• 1. Fry your goal into a crispy target behavior
• Example: Turn “I want to exercise more” into “I
want to go to the gym for one hour every
Monday and Wednesday after I study/do
homework.”

23. RECAP
• 2. Make your target behavior easier to do. One way of
doing this is changing your environment
• Example: Instead of working until 8 or 9pm and then
biking across campus to go to the gym, work in the
library closer to the gym and bring your gym clothes

24. RECAP
• 3. TRIGGER YOURSELF
• Set an alarm!

25. And Finally…
• CELEBRATE YOUR SUCCESS!!!
(Research shows that people who celebrate
their successes are more likely to keep on
succeeding!)