Bringing nature into the home:behavior change in practice

Colleen WearnEducation 302: Behavior DesignStanford University

Design challenge: How can two MBA students bring more nature into their apartment at Stanford?

Colleen and Nadine love outdoor adventures, and wanted to find better ways to bring nature back into their cookie-cutter grad student apartment

Focus mapping identified two target behaviorsVery effective at connecting us with nature

Not very effective at connecting us with nature

No, we cannot get ourselves to do this

Yes, we can get ourselves to do this

Display moon calendar & go on one full moon walk

Create outdoor sun deck & use it 10 mins/day

Top two behaviors “crispified”aka the fine print - defining the behavior and how to make it happen

Sundeck

Nadine makes a sundeck area behind our house.

Repair extra table and move to back of house, buy waterproof tablecloth and clips, get a plant for the center.

Both of us commit to spending at least 10 minutes there each day (e.g. breakfast, reading).

Lunar Calendar

Colleen buys a poster showing phases of the moon each day and mounts it in the living room.

Plan one full moon excursion at least once this year.

Outdoor sundeck is a success!B= MAT (Behavior = Motivation + Ability + Trigger)

Motivation was high for Nadine

Ability made easy by Amazon Prime order

Trigger – the focus map activity served as trigger; Nadine purchased the supplies immediately

Next steps

Pursue the core behavior change: Spend more time outside during every day moments (e.g. eating breakfast, doing homework)

Purpose of creating sundeck was to make this easier to do

New goal is to make seeing the sundeck = trigger to go spend 5 or 10 minutes out there

After one week…

Moon calendar is (mostly) a failure

No calendar yet. What went wrong?

B = M + A + T Trigger is not yet activated

Motivation for Colleen seemed high, riding a motivation wave after focus mapping

Ability should be easy (another quick Amazon order)

Trigger – calendar reminder pops up in 2 days; will that finally trigger Colleen to purchase it?

Take-aways

• Better trigger might kick in more quickly (while still in motivation wave)

• Just the act of focus mapping did inspire the roommates to go for a full moon walk on Saturday successful one time “dot” behavior change!

After one week…

Lessons Learned

Defining “crispy” (precise) behaviors is key -Who does what, at what time, where, with what tools, etc.

Focus map helps us prioritize -Converts generalized desire to change into top action items -List of remaining ideas is on our fridge for future use (pic ) Need to make the behavior easy to do -Simple actions that we actually take on have greater impact than grand plans never executed

Trigger design matters! -Tendency to think “we have motivation + ability; we’ll just remember to do it” often not so easy

Curious to learn more?Email: cwearn@stanford.eduCheck out: foggmethod.com

Parting thought:Is behavior change contagious?

Several more sundecks and mini gardens spotted on campus this week!