I made three changes to my environment to make a good health behavior more likely or a bad health behavior less likely and documented the results.

1. Healthier Environment,
Healthier Lifestyle
3 changes that worked for me and can work for
you too!
Katherine Chen / @kchen247

2. What if you could live
healthier just by making 3
small changes to your
environment?
Katherine Chen / @kchen247

3. It’s possible!
Here’s what I did.
Katherine Chen / @kchen247

4. Change #1
Carry a small container of
daily vitamins in my bag

5. Why don’t people take
vitamins?
∗ Vitamins are unpleasant to
take without food
∗ Weird coating = weird taste
∗ Vitamins require water to
swallow
∗ Often either the water or a
glass to drink the water from
is missing
∗ The benefit of taking
vitamins daily is intangible
in the short-term
∗ When we forget, it doesn’t
feel like a big deal

6. A potential solution
∗ Hypothesis:
∗ If I carry around a few
vitamins in my bag
AND see or think of
them during a meal
time, I will take them.
My vitamin container +
food/water to take them
with

7. Result: success!
∗ Over five days, I took
vitamins 4 out of 5
times.
∗ There were no blockers to
taking the vitamins because I
have already formed a health
behavior of drinking one glass
of water per meal.
∗ The one day I didn’t take them, I
lacked a trigger—I didn’t see the
pill container in my bag.

8. Change #2
Leave an exercise mat
rolled out on the floor

9. Why don’t people work out
more often?
∗ Personally, I am ∗ Low motivation to do floor
exercises:
unwilling to invest the ∗ Pushups are painful
time to change into ∗ Sit-ups are painful
gym clothes, go to the ∗ The floor is painful
gym, work out, come ∗ The floor is dirty
back, and shower.
∗ What’s the point?
∗ My healthier roommate ∗ Does doing a few each day
actually make a difference?
always tells me to do ∗ Health professionals do say that
strength training at doing a few sets of pushups or
home, but… sit-ups each day strengthens the
core over time

10. A potential solution
∗ Hypothesis:
∗ Laying out an exercise
mat on the floor of my
room will be a call to
action and make floor
exercises more
comfortable. I will be
more likely to do them
during breaks from
work or when bored.

11. Result: semi-success
∗ Semi-success for me.
∗ Pushups were more
comfortable and I thought
about doing them more
often, but I still found it hard
to get down on the ground
and actually do them.
∗ I realized my blocker was less
time constraint and more a
lack of general motivation to
put myself through physical
pain.
∗ I would also be less willing to
exercise at the risk of being
sweaty for my next class/
meeting. (Solution: do sets
before showering.)

12. Result: semi-success
∗ Side effect on healthier
roommate:
∗ He saw the mat on the floor
and went ahead and did his
exercise set on it.

13. Change #3
Carry around apples in my
backpack. Stop carrying
around cookies.

14. Why don’t people eat healthier
snacks?
∗ Healthier snacks are
less accessible
∗ Ex. Vending machines
∗ Healthier snacks are
often more expensive
∗ Ex. Kashi granola bars,
organic potato chips
∗ Healthier snacks are
less tasty…?

15. A potential solution
∗ Hypothesis: If I stop
carrying around
cookies, fake-healthy
energy bars, and
chocolate, and start
carrying around
apples in my
backpack, I’ll be more
likely to eat an apple
when I’m hungry.

16. Results: success!
∗ Whenever I wanted a snack,
I didn’t buy an unhealthy
one because I had one
already.
∗ If I didn’t want to eat the
apple, I would still feel bad
about not eating it and not
snack at all.
∗ Side effect on problem set
partner:
∗ Because I carried around so
many (good weight-lifting!), I
had the opportunity to offer
other people apples if they
expressed hunger / wanting
to go get late-night snacks. Hungry study partner decided to eat one of
my apples instead of going to Jack in the Box

17. Now you try:
Think of a healthy habit or
goal.

18. Now you try:
How can you change your
environment to set yourself
up for success?

19. If it’s to drink more water, start
carrying around a water bottle.
If it’s to floss, put the floss near
your toothbrush.
If it’s to smile more often, put a
smiley sticker on your phone.

20. Questions? Comments? Need
help translating a goal to a
change?
Leave them below!
Katherine Chen / @kchen247