I used to brag to my friends that I have a “strong bladder” – I didn’t have to go to the restroom nearly as much as they did. They pointed out, however, that it’s probably not that I have a stronger bladder, but just that I don’t drink enough water. I figured they were right. So, the behavior I’d like to change is how often I drink water – specifically, increasing my water intake.
During Measuring Me Take 1, I found myself changing my behavior (to fit nicely into the 15-minute measurement increments), so this time around, I tried really hard not to change any behaviors and truly just measure what I do. Thus, I decided not to measure in too rigid intervals and simply note at what times / how often I drank water (coffee, tea, and soda, etc. did not count). On the first day, Sunday, I drank water 3 times – during lunch, during dinner, and before bed (I drank only coffee in the morning and only tea between lunch and dinner). On Monday, I drank water 3 times again – during my morning bike ride, during lunch, and during dinner.
Next time, it’d be useful to not only document when I drink water, but during each time I drink, how much I consume. Only drinking water 3 times during the day seems very alarming and minimal, but I noticed that when I drink my water (i.e. during lunch), I consume way more water than my peers. Additionally, it’s a general self-care tip to “drink more water,” but I don’t actually know how much I should be drinking. Perhaps setting a goal and measuring my progress in reaching that goal would motivate me to drink more water, too. I’d also be curious to see how much coffee, tea, and soda, etc. play a part in our suggested daily water intake.
The two models that I used are the connection circle and the fishbone diagram. These were useful – I realized that materials (i.e. water bottle, Brita) probably played a larger role into my not drinking as much water than I realized. And that I make up excuses to not drink water.
