The Behavior
As someone who works too much for their own good, I wanted to enter the new year dedicating time to myself—not more time, but time (that’s how much I didn’t make any me time). When I’m in school, my calendar is blocked out from the second I wake up down to when I go to bed, which helps with my productivity, but neglects my mental and physical wellness. Though I didn’t feel ready yet to prioritize my wellness over all else, in an effort to take a small step towards caring for myself, I decided to create a morning and nighttime skin care routine. While skin care, of course, has astounding benefits, I never really cared for them. I choose skin care more so because it felt small and straight-forward, yet meaningful enough to make time for. It is relaxing, and it would be me time.
TLDR: the behavior I tracked was my skin care routine—a behavior I’m trying to form into a habit.
The Measurement
Since skin care is something I intend to do solely when I wake up and before I go to bed, and it is currently a conscious decision I have to make since it is not yet a habit, I decided to log:
- What I was doing before
- What I wanted to do after
- My internal dialogue when I’m deciding to do my skin care
- My feelings on the decision to do (or not do) my skin care
I logged this from Tuesday morning to Friday morning by recording voice memos on my phone, especially as it helped me spill my internal dialogue with ease and aurally note my thought process and the realizations I came to in real time. These voice memos also allowed me to note down the sequential order of events, which directly translate to my connection circle.
The Experience
Insight #1: Doing my nighttime skin care routine prevents me from eating XXTRA Hot Cheetos late at night
Tuesday night was the first night this quarter that I did not do my skin care routine and laid awake in bed eating XXTRA Hot Cheetos and watching Netflix. The next morning, in a state of regret due to my stomach, I asked myself why I made that decision knowing that it was a poor one. It was then when I realized that it was because I did not do my skin care routine that I laid awake in bed eating chips and watching Netflix (trust me, it connects). It has always been a habit of mine to watch a show before bed, but why was this the first night this quarter that I ate chips that late into the night?
After a long period of work, I seek relaxation. Since I had been doing my skin care routine right after I was done with work and right before bed, I was able to begin my relaxation through this and finish my relaxation by wrapping up the episode I began when I began doing my skin care. Since each episode I watch is about 40 minutes, and my skin care routine takes about 30 minutes, I would get about 10 minutes to continue relaxing in bed. Why would I not take the opportunity to eat hot chips in those 10 minutes? Because I like to have at least 5 minutes between eating and sleeping, so I saw no point in beginning to snack, for I would only get 5 minutes to enjoy it, and trying to stop eating hot chips once you start is another battle in itself that I know I cannot defeat in 5 minutes. Thus, my nighttime skin care routine was preventing me from eating XXTRA Hot Cheetos late at night, a bad habit of mine that I now see I can replace with a good and equally satisfying habit.
Insight #2: I met my reinforcing loop
After sleeping through my state of regret, I woke up once again around 11 AM. I had meant to wake up much earlier, so I was upset at the fact that my morning was almost gone. I wanted so badly to rush out, go to CoHo, and get started on my work, but I grew even further upset because I would not be doing my skin care routine again. After much self-debate and gathering all my willpower, I ultimately decided to do my skin care routine. I felt much better, and with this clarity, I reflected and met my reinforcing loop.
If I had just done my skin care routine the night before to relax as opposed to eating hot chips, I could have woken up early enough, felt excited to do my skin care routine, and have all day to do my work. Instead, waking up late almost had me skip out on my skin care again, and there was now potential to skip out on my skin care at night again, for I would be up doing work late again because I did not start earlier.
Insight #3: Transitions are sneaky
I had to work late once again, but, this time, when I got home, I decided to work in my building’s study room as opposed to my bedroom. Only when I finished my work did I allow myself to go to my room. It is habit of mine to go the bathroom right when I get to my room, and, because I was in my bathroom, and it was time for me to go to sleep, it was easy to do my skin care routine despite being tired and awake late. When I had stayed up late Tuesday night, I was working at my desk, and, because I was sitting down for a long period of time doing work, it felt easier and better to go lie in my bed that was closer as opposed to go to the bathroom and have to stand to do my skin care. I was tired and had stayed up late in both scenarios, but, the location I was in when I finished my work made all the difference. The higher-effort physical transition from the study room to my room made it easier to continue doing more transitions, such as into my nighttime routine. In contrast, being in my room already, a place where I am typically only in to get ready, relax, or sleep, made me yearn for easier transitions.
Insight #4: I (sadly) care more about school than my wellness
By Thursday morning I was continuing strong with my skin care routine. Unfortunately, Thursday night was different. I had a morning deadline, and, because I had no classes the next day, I stayed up until 9am doing work at my bedroom desk. There was no way I could be bothered to do my nighttime skin care routine when the sun was already up and I was exhausted. I went straight to bed. I had learned much over the past days about how to create the optimal conditions such that I can do my skin care routine consistently. Even though I knew staying up was bad, and I knew doing work in my room before bed was bad, my academic commitments took precedence when push came to shove.
