Topical Blog Week #11 (Due Thursday)

My goal is to exercise to loose pounds of fat!

My more specific target behavior is to do a different fat burning exercise every day of the week after I am done with class and before work. I'm going to go to the WRC here on campus after my last class of the day every Monday and run the track for two miles. I will also rock climb and swim every Monday. On Tuesday, I will do Zumba Fitness in my dorm room for one hour. Wednesday's, I'm going to go for a run on the sidewalks around campus for an hour and a half. On Thursday's, I will also go to the WRC and do cardio work outs. Twenty minutes on the elliptical, twenty minutes on the tread mill, twenty minutes on bikes, and twenty minutes of fast walking. On Friday, I plan to lift weights. I want to focus on my arms and abdomen. I will spend thirty minutes using the lifting and ab equipment and forty five minutes climbing the rock wall, which can be very intense! Saturday's, I will go for a swim and do laps for an hour, tread water for thirty minutes and do my own water aerobics. Finally, on Sunday, I will do a less intense fat burning exercise, in the comfort of my own dorm room, I will do 200 crunches, 100 mountain climbers, 90 push ups, 80 seconds of wall sits, 70 seconds of superman, 60 seconds of scissor kicks, etc.

I am recording my exercise activities by keeping a work out journal, every day that I exercise I record it in my journal. I also have the exercises that I do everyday written down so I don't forget to do them anyway. This way I will be able to graph the data that I collect. I can graph it by the day of the week that I am exercising and the exercise that I did that day, and compare it to either the amount of calories that I am burning, the fat reduction in my body, or the amount of weight that I lost. I think it would be a simple solution!

Instead of punishing myself for either not exercising, not loosing the pounds of fat, or punishing myself by not eating or not eating the things that I love, I will instead use reinforcement to make my goal of loosing pounds of fat a pleasurable one! I will reinforce my behavior of emitting exercise by, if I exercise, I will reward myself with a movie or indulge on a small treat, or a couple hours of television viewing! I could just be internally rewarding myself because I will be getting healthier and loosing the pounds of fat that I so desperately want to be loosing! Internal Motivation can do wonders!

Of course there will be those days that you can not work out. Those reasons can be reasonable, for example, if you have a test to study for, sickness, or maybe even you just want a day to relax for a day, I could make up for that lost day, on a different day or just account for the missing day on my chart because things happen in your life that prevent you from being able to keep up with your goals.

The behavior that I would like to elicit a change to is to spend more time working out and being more physically active.

1) Goal- Work out more
• I could narrow down my goal and actually say what working out more means since working out more for me and working out more for another person could be totally different. I can narrow this down and explain it more in my target behavior.
2) Target Behavior- Go to the WRC every week night at 8:00 for one hour.
• Besides going to the WRC every day of the school week, I could also time spent swimming and playing while I’m working as a nanny working out time. Even if I’m not intentionally working out, I am still spending time being physically active. I could also set specific times for different days since my schedule varies from day to day.
3) Record- I would record how many days per week that I actually went to the WRC and how long that I was there.
• It might be more beneficial for me to identify how I am going to record my time spent being physically active and working out. I would have to keep in mind what would work the best for me personally. I feel that I wouldn’t be able to keep a record on my phone, so maybe it would be best if I kept a notebook and recorded my time at the end of the day before I went to bed at night.
4) Graph- My graph would have the title of “Trips to the WRC”, my Y axis would be labeled “Number of Trips”, and my X axis would be labeled “Time spent at WRC”.
• I think that a better graph would have the time spent being active instead of just my trips to the WRC since I am counting other activities as well.
5) Contingencies- If I meet my goal, I will reward myself with a Scratch cupcake every Friday.
• I feel that this is a good reinforce for me, because it gives me something to look forward to at the end of the week if I achieve my goal, and I can’t go without Scratch cupcakes!
6) Antecedents- I can use work as an antecedent to my working out behavior by working out right after work every day. Also I could put my tennis shoes by the door so when I see them, it will remind me that I need to go work out.
• These will be good antecedents for me. I work every day, so it will be easy for me to get into the habit of going to work out as soon as I get done with work.
7) Implementing and Adjusting- I can adjust my workout schedule if I went swimming that same day while babysitting or for days that I have my workout class. Another time that I will need to adjust is the night before an exam, because I will need to dedicate my time to studying rather than fitness.
• Another occurrence that I will have to adjust for is if I have to work late. I work for a family of doctors and sometimes things come up where I have to be available for them. When this happens, I can try to find physical activities that the kids and I can do together and that they will enjoy.

The behavior I would like to change is speaking to my sister more often to build a closer bond with her.

Here are my six steps…
1. Set my goal of talking to my sister more frequently

2. Here are my target behaviors…
• Text my sister a 4 text conversation once every two days
• Talk to her on the phone for 30 minutes once a week
• Take her out to see a movie once a month

3. I would keep record of this in a notepad app in my phone, for quick access. I would record the date, time, how many conversations we had, and how long the conversation was. After the conversations on the phone and the movies I will call her and ask her to rate the conversation or evening on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 meaning we were completely disconnected and 10 meaning we had meaningful conversations. At the end of the week I will ask her on a scale of 1 to 10 how much of a bond she feels we have.

4. I would have 3 graphs. The first graph would show the days of the week and the amount of time spent talking or visiting my sister. The second graph would be a double bar graph, show the days of the week and how meaningful my sister rated our conversations and movie night outs. The third graph would show the number of weeks and how close of a bond my sister feels we have.

5. I will reward myself by allowing myself to set aside $5.00 per week of completion, to go towards buying the new shoes that I want. Also, I will be greatly rewarding by the great feeling I will get, knowing that I am building a great relationship that will last all our lives. Also, I will have the great feeling of knowing that I’m making my mother very happy be becoming closer with my sister.

6. Antecedents would be…
•Pictures of my sister and me in my room
• Her number on Speed Dial in my phone
• Knowing her schedule of activities so I know when to call and visit

7. Continue with the plan I have set. If necessary, I will change the amount of time visiting, calling, or texting my sister or I will consider changing the reward.

The behavior I would like to change is to spend more time reading than what I do currently

1)Goal: Spend more time reading books of my choosing and local news articles online

2) Target Behaviors: Take one hour out of my day to read a book of my choosing. Take thirty minutes of my day to read local news articles online.

3) To keep track of how many minutes a day I am reading a book of my choosing and reading local news articles, I will keep a journal. There will be two sections in this journal, one for the minutes I read a book and one for the minutes I read a local news article. The minutes will be recorded under the days/dates of the week. After I am done reading, I will record the number of minutes I read in the appropriate section

4) My lined graph will be titled "Minutes Read (Write Week)". On the X-axis it will be the days of the week. On the Y-axis will be number of minutes ranging from zero to sixty. This will show me, visually, if I am reaching my goal of 60 minutes a day for a book and 30 minutes a day for local news article. Each line will be represented in different colors.

5) If everyday of the week I reach my goal, I will reward myself with a piece of chocolate! This would be after the week is up.

6) For reading a book, I would place my book on my pillow so I would read an hour before I went to bed. For the local news articles online, I would set an alarm on my phone to remind me to look up some local news articles. The alarm will be set for 4:00pm because that is a consistent time of day when I will have time to get online to read the articles.

7) I may have to adjust my reading schedule if I am on vacation! Or my schedule may have to be adjusted during weeks I have exams. It may also have to be adjusted on the days I am scheduled to work.

A behavior I would like to change is what time I get up in the morning.
1)Set a goal of being out of bed and moving around before 8 every morning.
2)Target behaviors
a.Being awake by 7 every morning
b.Being out of bed and moving by 8:00 every morning.
3)The record I would keep would be a piece of paper on my mirror where I would write down what time I was up every day
4)My graph would be the days of the week and what time I woke up each day
5)Some antecedent’s will be moving my alarm clock farther away from my bed, going to bed sooner, and not drinking caffeine at night so I sleep better. I will reward myself for getting up early by going to breakfast each morning I get up before 8 o'colck. By going to breakfast, I will be able to have the fresh squeezed orange juice at Rialto.
6)I will adjust my schedule to make sure that I have time to get stuff done at night if I can’t get up in the morning and I will keep trying to get in the habit of waking up early.

My goal is more effective study habits; specifically time management.

1)Goal: More effective studying

2)Target behavior: Increase study time by 5 minutes each day for two weeks for a total goal of a 70 minute increase. Will collect baseline data for three days.

3)Record: Record total number of study minutes each day, plot cumulatively and by day.

4)Graph: The X axis contains the days of the week for two weeks. The Y axis is cumulative number minutes studied. I will also make a graph that plots total number of minutes studied each day.

5)Contingencies: I will earn 15 minutes of video game play each day that I meet the Target Behavior of increasing study time by 5 minutes.

6)Antecedents: Post graph next to my desk in my dorm room; also a sign that says 5 minutes earns you 15.And another reminding: No video game playing until studying is done.

7)Adjustments: I may need to change the time added for studying, 5 minutes may be too little. I may need more than one kind of reinforcer. I may need to look at how I time my studying and how I can keep the total time for the day. I may need a cut-off time in the evening after which a reinforcer cannot be earned. I may need a rule that I cannot study for just 5 minutes and that count as added time

The behavior I would change is paying attention in class more.
1. My goal is to focus on what I am learning in class more.
2. My target behaviors are not using my cell phone in class, not talking to my neighbors unless it's a class related question once class starts, take notes about what I am learning actively throughout class, about 2 pages just counting one side.
3. I will keep a log of my behaviors in a notebook after each class.
4.) I would have six seperate graphs that would chart cell phone use, talking behavior, and note taking behavior of MWF classes and TTH classes. So the titles would be the days the classes are taken, the X axis would be the names of the classes, and the Y axis would be the number of times I used a cell phone, Talked in class, or the number of pages I took notes.
5.) The contingencies would be that if I don't use my cell phone, don't talk in class, and take 2 pages of notes in 10 out of my 13 times I have class for a week then I can treat myself to a medium Blizzard from Dairy Queen.
6.) My antecedents would be turning off my phone before class or leaving it in my room, I could always sit in the front row of my classes, I could not be friends with the people who sit beside me, I could have my goal visible on every notebook I have.
7. I may have to adjust my contingencies if I get good at meeting my goal such as taking 2 pages of notes in all of my classes or getting a blizzard once every two weeks. If I struggle with meeting my goal then I may adjust it by being able to use my phone 2 times a week during class, and talking too friends 3 times a week instead of having it be zero.

#1) My Goal: Avoid eating sweets at meal time and during snacking periods outside of special occasions and/or holidays.

#2) Target Behaviors:

- Get rid of the sweets currently in my dorm room by throwing them out, or giving them away.

- Eat fruit or yogurt following my main courses of food after breakfast, lunch, and dinner instead of choosing the donuts, cookies, or bars, as well as any other kind of dessert.

- Leave and enter the Rialto through the Dancer Hall door instead of the Bender Hall door so I no longer pass the dessert table.

- Buy healthier snack options such as carrots and granola bars at the grocery store instead of the Oreos.

- Go work out before supper instead of after so I am more conscious as to what I eat at supper in order to not waste the work out by eating unhealthy options at supper.

- Take a different route to work at Gilchrist in the afternoons in order to avoid Chats in the Union where I like to buy pop and cookies to snack on at work.

- Bring sweeter fruit such as apples or grapes to work to snack on in order to avoid the temptation of my boss's candy jar sitting on the front desk.

#3) Record: I would use my cell phone to record the sweets that I ate every week, as well as to record the success of succeeding at my other target behaviors. This type of recording is useful and handy for me, because there is not a place I go where I don’t have my phone on me. I have a smartphone that has a notepad feature that I can place onto one of my screens where I could list the sweets that I ate which would help to serve as a constant reminder. I have a calendar on my phone where I could record the days that I took the alternate routes to the Rialto and/or to work. I could also use the list feature on my phone to list the grocery items that I bought instead of the sweets I usually buy.

First, during every meal, during snack, and while I am at work, I can record on my phone the specific items that I ate.

Second, I could record on my phone the days that I took the alternate route to the Rialto or to Gilchrist for work.

Third, I could record the items that I bought at the grocery store that were healthier than buying the sweets that I normally do.

#4) Graph a Baseline: In order to graph my success with achieving my target behaviors, I would have to graph the behaviors on separate graphs. My first graph would be a line graph to show the number of sweets I had eaten and in which week in order to document the progress towards my goal. My Y-Axis would be a set of quantitative data to represent the number of sweets that I had eaten that week. My X-Axis would represent the timeline in weeks.(For example: Week #1, Week #2, etc.)The title of my graph would be the following: “Number of Sweets Eaten on a Weekly Basis.”

My second set of graphs would also be a line graph representing the number of times I took the alternate route to work and to the dining center. My Y-Axis would be a set of quantitative data to represent the number of times in each week that I took the alternate routes. My X-Axis would represent the timeline in weeks. (For example: Week #1, Week #2, etc.) In order to graph this portion, I would need separate graphs. One graph representing the alternate routes to work, and the other graph representing the alternate routes to the Rialto. The title of these graphs would be the following: “Number of Alternate Routes Taken to Gilchrist Hall,” and “Number of Alternate Routes Taken to the Rialto.”

My third graph would also be a line graph to show the number of sweets that I bought at the grocery store. I tend to stock up on groceries on the weekends, typically on Sunday. Therefore, my graph would represent every Sunday and the number of sweets that I bought. My Y-Axis would be a set of quantitative data to represent the number of sweets that I bought. My X-Axis would represent the timeline in weeks. (For example: Sunday Week #1, Sunday Week #2, etc.) My title would be the following: “Number of Sweets Bought.”

#5) Determine Contingencies: In order to avoid using punishment to reinforce the behavior, I would use buying a new movie as reinforcement for avoiding sweets. I am a movie person and love to buy new movies to add to my collection. Therefore, in the beginning I would buy myself a movie each Sunday as reinforcement for avoiding sweets that week. As time went on, I would spread the time out in-between buying movies in order to avoid satiation. The incentive of buying a new movie would most likely increase the likelihood of me avoiding sweets.

#6) Determine Antecedents:

- I could make a grocery list of the items that I need to get at the grocery store before leaving, and that way it would force me to stick to the list while in the store instead of adding things to the cart as I see them like I usually do.

- I could tell my friends to meet me at the opposite doors away from the dessert table in order to force myself to avoid the doors closest to the desserts in order to also help avoid the temptation.

- I could leave earlier for work in order to make it more possible to take the longer route avoiding the Union to get to work.

#7) Implement and Adjust the Contingencies: An adjustment I could make would be to make a list of the times that I could have sweets such as the holidays and/or special occasions in order to remind myself that I am just decreasing the amount I eat, not the overall eating of sweets.

The behavior I would like to change is work out more.

1. Goal:
Work out more by lifting weights in the gym and doing cardio.

2. Define Target Behaviors:
My target behaviors include first lifting in the gym for one hour three times a week. I will also do some sort of cardio, whether it be run, play basketball, or something else for at least a half hour twice a week. Realistically I would like to alternate between the two during the week, but that may not be the case and I'm alright with that.

3. Keep a Record:
I will keep a journal in my gym bag and keep track of weight and amount of reps when lifting weights. I will also try and keep track of how much I run by writing down the amount of time or distance I run.

4. Graph a Baseline:
I will graph the amount of weight and reps to see my improvements. I will also graph the time spent on cardio and distance ran if possible.

5. Determine Contigencies:
I will use differential reinforcement to reinforce my target behaviors. Every day that I work out I will reward myself with one hour of video games that night after the work out.

6. Determine Antecedents:
I can clear my schedule so as to allow ample time for my workout I can work out with a friend so it makes me commit to the workout. I can make my workout known so that I will feel obligated to actually follow through with it.

7. Implement and Adjust Contigencies:
I may need to adjust the amount of time or days of the workout to get better results. I may have to add or change the target behaviors as I progress so as to keep it moving in a positive direction. I may have to change the reinforcer to something more reinforcing to keep me motivated.

1 Goal: finish a novel.
2 Target Behaviors: In crease time spent on Novel to 45min-60 min on Tues and Thursdays in teh afternoons. Then Typing aadn editing on Satuday afternoon for half hour. Sub Target behavior, Increase amount of writing. Increase amount if typing.Increase amount of brainstorming.
3 Records: Record when an dwhere wrting currently accurs.
Record time spent writing in a graph. Record amount written. in a graph
4 I will graph how much i already write per week as my basseline.
5. Contingencies. If I fuful the target behavior of writing time I will Get my self a Wendys Frosty on Sunday. After two weeks of keeping the goal and based off increases in graph of amount of writing completed. I will receive a Mocha Frappe.
6. Antecedents. I will go to teh library during the afternoons at 1:00 to work on writing. Bring only a writing materials . No computer. Saturday use a computer. And Write following lunch.
7. Adjustments. If there is a major writing paper due the previous week may only have on novel session to adjsut for teh project.

Here are my seven steps to eating healthier...

1. Goal: I want to eat healthier and not eat so much junk food in my free time.

2. Target Behaviors: I would like to keep myself busy during the day so I don't have so much down time to sit in my room and snack on junk food. I could go for a walk or go to the WRC to workout more often. Ask for more hours at my on campus job. Or I could sit in the library or towers center to do homework or study for my classes.

3. Records: I would keep track of what I'm eating with a daily journal or if I can't do that I would keep track on my cell phone and just keep little memos. I could also keep track of what I'm buying by my grocery store receipts.

4. Graphs: I will graph what I'm eating on a spreadsheet on my computer and see how healthy I'm getting each week.

5. Contingencies: If I can fulfill my goal with eating healthy for four weeks I will reward myself with a new pair of shoes. I cannot eat out to any fast food restaurant and cannot intake more than 1,940 calories per day.

6. Antecedents: I will make myself busier during the day so I'm more active and my metabolism will run faster. I will only buy healthy foods such as fresh fruits and try to stay away from starchy foods.

8. Adjustments: Depending on the time of the year it is I may or may not eat more in a day. For example if it is around a holiday there's more likely to be food around from my family or from other people to eat that I may eat. There are also big meals being prepared.

The behavior I would like to change would be spending more time reading.
1.)My goal: Spending more time reading books that I find interesting,
whether it be a fiction or non-fiction, just as long as it is
something that interest me.
2.)Target Behaviors: Take an hour out of my entire day to sit down and
read a book of my choosing, whether it be 30 minutes during lunch and
30 minutes before bed, or the entire 60 minutes before bed, just as
long as I spend a combined total of 60 minutes reading throughout my
day.
3.) The record would be to keep track of how long I am reading for
each day, and possibly what I am reading. To keep record of this I
will mark down on my calendar or in a notebook, depends on if I am
home or away, how long I read for, and how many times I read
throughout the day.
4.) My graph will be titled Minutes reading. The Y axis will be named
minutes, and will range from 0 to 60 minutes, counting by 5’s. The X
axis will be named days of the week, and will have them listed
starting with Sunday and ending with Saturday. This graph will help me
visually see that at the end of each day I have either read 60
minutes, or I haven’t.
5.) At the end of every week I will reward myself by putting 5 dollars
into a collecting jar, and when I finally finish the book, no matter
how long it takes me, I will get to empty the jar and go buy something
of my choosing. I opted to do this type of reward because I know
myself and if I try rewarding myself with candy it won’t work, candy
isn’t a constant reinforce for me, also I’m the type of person to
where If I don’t read Monday, I won’t read the rest of the week
because I know I won’t be getting anything in the end because I missed
one day. So with this rewarding system, at the end of each week I get
5 bucks, but I don’t get that 5 bucks back until I finish the book,
therefore it would reinforce me to read more often because I want to
go buy something with that money, even if it’s something as little as
an ice cream treat.
6.)Antecedent: For reading the book of my choice, I would make sure I
have the book out in plain sight, probably laying on my bed or pillow
so I can’t pretend I don’t see it. I also would take the television
out of my room as an experiment to see if I would be more encouraged
to grab my book rather than the remote.
7.)adjust: I may need to adjust my reading schedule if I don’t stay at
home, am on vacation, or if I have company over. Also If I have a lot
of homework which would be aversive, so I might not want to read
anymore.

The behavior that I want to change is watching less television.

1. Goal-Watch less television.
2. Target Behavior- Watch 2 hours or less of television every day.
3. Record- Keep a notebook with the amount of television watched every night.
4. Graph- I will graph the amount of time of television watched every night. The graph would be a line graph where x-axis is day of week and y-axis is time spent watching television in 15-minute intervals.
5. Contingencies- Reward myself with a new piece of fishing equipment for each 5 successful days.
6. Antecedents- Have alternative forms of entertainment (books, basketball) readily available. Keep log with remote to discourage watching television.
7. Adjustments- I may have to adjust reinforcement based on time of year and money available. May have to make change to target behavior for weekends and special occasions.

1.) My goal is to emit the behavior of exercising in order to lose weight.

2.) Define/Specify the Goal as a Set of Target Behaviors: I will go to the WRC at 3:00 pm. every Monday through Friday and stay there for at least one hour and 30 minutes. For the first 30 minutes I will run on the treadmill or elliptical. I will then spend the next 30 minutes engaging in any type of activity that raises my heart rate above 165 beats per minutes. The last 30 minutes of my workout will be spent doing ab exercises such as various types of crunches. I have 10 different ab exercises and I will do 20 reps of each and repeat all of the exercises two times.

3.) Keep a Record: I will keep a behavioral diary in my phone and record my workout behaviors on this. I will have a list of my exercises already entered in my phone so that I can just check them off when I complete each one. I would record my workout in my diary right after I completed my workout so that it would be accurate and I would be less likely to forget anything. Also, I always have my phone on me so this would be very handy for me. I even have my phone with me when I work out and usually just place it in the drink holder on a machine or set it next to me. After completing each exercise I could just enter the date, amount of time spent at the WRC, how much time I spent on each activity, what I was doing before I came to work out, and how I was feeling afterwards in my phone. I would then save this in the notebook application on my phone so that I could use this information later when making a graph. I would also weigh myself every evening before I go to sleep so that I can see if I am reaching my goal of losing weight.

4.) Graph a Baseline: Before attempting to manipulate my exercising behavior, I will keep track of my workouts for at least one week so that I will have a comparison for when I do begin working toward my goal. In order to keep track of my progress I would need to create two separate graphs. To record my workout behaviors I would create two line graphs using Excel and print them out at the end of each week. The title of my first line graph would be Amount of Time Spent Working Out. The y-axis, which is the dependent measure, would be labeled Minutes Spent Working Out and would range from 0 minutes to 160 minutes (or as high as needed). The x-axis would be labeled time and would contain the days of the week, Monday through Friday. I would also have a second graph that would be labeled Weight Loss. The y-axis would be labeled weight in pounds and would contain my weight for that day. And the x axis would be labeled time and would contain the days of the week, Monday through Friday.

5.) Determine Contingencies: If I reached my goal of losing any amount of weight during the week, I will reinforce myself with a movie night and a scoop of frozen yogurt on Friday evening. Being able to relax and just watch a movie is kind of rare for me. I am usually too busy to just lie around and watch a movie so I really enjoy it when I am able too. Since I am likely to watch a movie anyways, it is easy to integrate this into my goal. Also, although I am attempting to lose weight, frozen yogurt is one thing that I cannot go without. It is not terrible for you so it is not like I am totally sabotaging my goal. I know that I would probably break down and eat it eventually if I tried to refrain from eating it altogether, so it works out perfectly that I could use this as a reinforcer.

6.) Determine Antecedents: I would be able to control the antecedents to make this goal a little easier to accomplish. By setting an alarm for 2:45 pm. on my phone I would have to stop what I was doing and looking at the reminder on the phone that would remind me to head to the WRC to work out. Also, I could set my work out clothes on my bed so that when I walk into my room after class and get ready to watch TV for a bit, I would be reminded that I need to work out shortly. Also, I could ask my roommate to be my workout partner since she works out a lot anyways. This way I would have someone to motivate me and I would be held responsible for my actions.

7.) Implement and Adjust the Contingencies: I could adjust my schedule if I was sick that day or if work called and I had to go in during my scheduled 3:00 workout time. In these cases I could just move the time around or do double the next day. Also, if frozen yogurt no longer was reinforcing, or if I decided that I wanted to eat even healthier, I may have to change the reinforcer to something that I find more reinforcing and that works with my goals I have set for myself. Also, if I had a large paper or exam the next day I may have to skip a work out because school is more important to me than working out is. As my schedule changes over the summer I may also have to change the time I want to work out from 3:00 pm. to a time that would work better with my new schedule.

1) My goal is to reduce my alcohol consumption per week.

2) I plan on reducing this unwanted behavior by only taking $10 to the bars with me, when I go. I am also reducing the amount of times I go out during the weeks. I have decided to reduce this to twice a week and gradually work from there.

3) In order to keep record of this, I will write down the times I go out, approximately how much I drink before and how much money I spend while out. Seeing how much money I spend on alcohol alone will likely reinforce myself to subside.

4) I plan to have two graphs. The first one will be recorded as I said above in a week that I haven't started working towards my goal. Which means going out as I regularly would. I will record this information and compile it into my graph which will then tell me how much time I spend drinking, how much money I spend drinking, and how much alcohol I actually consume. I'm not 100% sure on how I would put this all into a graph, but that is the information I would like to include in it. The second graph will be the same information but during a week where I am working towards my goal. I will continue to do this until I am happy with my goal completion.

5) The contingencies are kind of difficult to integrate into reducing my alcohol consumption. But I've decided that from the money I will potentially save from reducing this behavior, I will reward myself with a small shopping spree. I really enjoy shopping so if I do not comply with my requirements for the week, then I will not allow myself to go. If I do comply, then I can treat myself to a small trip with the savings.

6) One antecendent that would help greatly would be if one of my friends would join along with me. Most of my friends drink a lot, so it's hard to do by yourself. Another could be to start visiting home on the weekends so that I don't have as strong of an urge to go out every weekend, as I don't see my family very often.

7) I think the plans I have right now should work pretty well for me, but if they don't I could always adjust them. For instance, if twice a week is proving to be too much, I could narrow it down to only spending a set amount of money per week instead of the number of days. Also, if the shopping sprees prove to be not reinforcing I may need to change that as well. I have recently also stopped eating sweets. I could use that as a reinforcer by allowing myself to treat myself to a sweet of my choice every week I successfully achieve my goal.

The behavior I would like to change is watch less T.V.
1. Goal - Watch less TV
2. Target behavior - only watch a half hour of TV a week night. Only watch games that are important to me (just watch my favorite team play rather than whatever game ESPN has on)
3. record- I will record how much TV I watch a day. I will note what it was that I was watching (watching a sporting event almost always is longer than a half hour)
4. Graph - one graph will have amount of time watching TV (non sporting events) by the half hour on the y axis and the day of the week on the x axis. Another graph will have the amount of time I watch a sport on the y axis and the day of the week on the x axis.
5. Contingencies - If I limit my TV watching to no more than a half hour a day for a week straight I will reinforce myself with an adult beverage at the end of the week.
6. Antecedents - The main antecedent before I emit the behavior of watching TV is sitting on the couch to eat dinner (after eating my dinner I get into a "food coma" and watch too much TV). I could eat dinner at the dinner table instead, away from view of the TV. Another antecedent is just sitting around on the couch after I am all done with my homework. After I complete my homework it’s reinforcing to just chill on the couch. I can change my reinforcement of getting my homework done to something different like going to play basketball with my friends which is also reinforcing to me.
7. Implementing and Adjusting - I may have to define more target behaviors to get the best results.

I would like to gain 20 pounds by the end of the year

Goal: Gain 20 pounds by March of 2012

I can modify the specific target behaviors of:

- planning out meals on sunday afternoons
- list ingredients needed for each meal
- calculate cost of each meal
- going to bed by midnight each night to allow for eight
hours of sleep each night
- wake up an hour before my earliest class for a meal
- designing and scheduling snack times
- lifting weights for one hour everyday of the week
- calculate calories needed and length of time required to gain desired weight

I can record:

- calories of each meal
- calorie totals for each day
- weight gained per week
- calories totals for each week
- length of time lifted each day
- total weight gained at end of year

I can make three graphs:

- Calorie Counter
- X-axis days of week
- Y-axis calorie totals for each day

-Weight Counter
- X-axis Weeks in year
- Y-axis Weight gained in lbs per week

-Workout Graph
- X-axis days of week
- Y-axis length of time lifted

I can implement the contingencies of:

- Everyday calorie goal is met = 1 hour of video games
- Every hour spent lifting = 1 hour of laziness
- Every pound gained = Cupcake

I can implement the Antecedants of:

- Having meals, cost, and calories planned at the beginning of each week
- Having needed groceries available at the beginning of each week
- Setting alarms in my phone to go off at designated feeding times
- Pictures of ideal weight and positive affirmations in high traffic areas

Finding the right reinforcers for me is hard. I can do without a lot of the things that reinforce my behavior. I would really just have to commit to the plan and deprive myself of the reinforcers if I don't accomplish the daily and weekly assignments. For example, if I don't make my caloric goal for the day, then I don't get to play video games. If I don't make my workout time, I don't get to watch tv, play video games, drink/smoke, etc. Basically I don't get to bullshit. Either way, commitment is the key.

Goal: stay in touch with my friends more

A) Target Behaviors:
1- Get ahold by phone, or Facebook of at least the same 5 friends during the course of 30 days
2- Talk to 3 different friends each day on the phone for at least 20 min
3- Get together for lunch once a week
4- Get together for dinner as a group once a week
5- Text 5 of them everyday telling to see how there day is going

B) Record- I will keep track of the times a day I talk to them by my phone and write it down at the end of the day. When I get food with my friends I will record when I meet up with them. When I text my friends I will record all 5 to keep track of who I messaged.
C) Graph- Y-axis is days of the week, and my X-axis is the name of the friends I am trying to get ahold of so I am able to record the times I communicate with them.
D) Contingency- I will reward myself at the end of the week when I have completed the weeks goals of going to lunch, dinner, and texting my friends once a day and talking to the three different friends each day, after I have completed all of this the reward for myself will be being happy with my relationship with my friends and catching up with them.
E) Antecedents- keeping my phone around so I am able to have access to communication and also to keep my computer handy to I am able to communicate that way also.
F) I may have to adjust the times I get to eat dinner or lunch because of my schedule may not allow a time to get together with them but if that happens I will add more time to the how long I talk to them on the phone each

Goal: Increasing my patience
1) Take yoga or other relaxation methods
2) Learning breathing techniques
3) Try meditation
4) Focus on the positives
5) Adjust my time in patient depriving situations

Record: I need to keep track of what it is that causes me to lose my patience
Graphing:Y being the number of time in a day, X wil be the situations
Contingency: the lower my rate of impatience, the more reward I get to give myself
Antecedents: going into situations with a positve, calm mind-set
Adjusting the time I go to places and face situations which i know cause my patience loss.

1) My goal: To read more books.

2) Define/Specify goal: A target behavior I would emit for this goal is to read once for 30 minutes between the hours of 9am until 1pm and then read for another 30 minutes between 1pm and 1 am. That schedule of reading time works because of the different times I have classes throughout the week.

3) Keep a record: After each time I read, I will keep a bookmark on the page I stopped on to record my data.

4) Graph a baseline: The title of my graph would be “Reading for Minutes”, my X axis would be the minutes read in increments of 10 minutes going up to 120 minutes. My Y axis would be number of pages read ranging from 10 pages to 400 pages (depending on the book). It would be a line graph hopefully showing that each point is going up to the next.

5)Determine contingencies: Reading more pages each night will make me value the number of minutes of TV I’ll get to watch because number of pages read directly affects the number of minutes of TV watched.

6) Determine antecedents: The antecedents I would have would be finding books I want to read and would find enjoyable. Choosing a book that isn’t interesting will make this entire goal hard to achieve.

7) Implement and adjust the contingencies: I will be able to change where I ready whether it’s at a quieter place like the library than at my apartment where roommates can be a distraction. Also I can put two days of reading together for one hour in case I have too much homework or I have a work schedule conflict to where I miss time to read.

The behavior I would like to change is to exercise more.

1. Goal: I would like to exercise more.

2. Target Behaviors:
-I will run for at least one mile without stopping every M/W/F.
-Once I have ran my mile or more, I will continue to walk at least a mile.

3. Record: I will record the amount time and distance without stopping in a notebook when I am done. I will also record how many miles I walk and how long that takes me. I will also keep a log of this online using my Nike+ sensor and app on my ipod. This will tell me the distance and time and the pace.

4. Graph: On the x axis will be the days of the week, and the y axis will be how many miles I ran without stopping. That will be one line. There will also be another line on the graph that will show how many miles I walked. I will also create another graph, and on the x axis will be the days of the week, and the y axis will be the amount of time it took me to run the mile(s) without stopping. Another line will show the amount of time it took me to walk the mile(s).

5. Contingencies: At first I will reinforce myself after each run by letting myself relax and do anything for 30 minutes. If I run the three days during the week, I will reinforce myself on the weekend by buying a nanoblock figure (pretty much mini legos that form an animal or structure. They’re cool)

6. Antecedents: Set out my running clothes and shoes in the morning before I leave for class/work. I could also deprive myself from listening to music all day so I will want to go run so I can listen to music. I will find someone to run with me, so we can motivate each other.

7. Adjustments: I may need to change the reinforcement if it isn’t reinforcing enough. I may also need to change the target behavior to increase the distance once I get into better shape. I may also need to change the days of the week I run depending what is going on that week.

I think my target behavior might need to be changed into a more specific 7 am work out so I have the motivation to get up and do it. What I would do is make sure I write that workout the night before so when I get up in the morning I know exactly what I'm doing.

If I had enough motivation to make all these graphs I would probably want to (just to make the experiment more throurough) make a different graph for every different swimming stroke I did. This would show me all the different types of swim techniques and how much I do each of them each week.

I think as an added reinforcement, if I go to the swimming pool on monday and Wednesday morning on Friday morning I get to invite a friend to go with me (if they want) and swim with them.

The behavior I would like to change is I would like to swim more.
1. Goal-swim more
2. Target Behavior- Go to the pool at 7am every M/W/F and swim for one hour
3. Record-Keep a notebook/diary of swimming and how much I swam everyday. Also would record swim workouts the day before so I know exactly how much I would want to swim and make myself do it in the morning.
4. Graph-I would make multiple graphs: One main one that has the amount of time on the y-axis and the day of the week on the x-axis. The other graphs would have each different stroke and their time on the y-axis as well as the day of the week on the x-axis. This would just make it more interesting for me to go back and look at all of those if I needed extra motivation in the future.
5. Contingencies- I will be rewarded every morning that I go swimming by going to breakfast afterwards. If I have gone swimming Monday and Wednesday, on Friday I get to invite a friend to come swimming with me.
6. Antecedents-Pack my backpack with swimsuit the night before
Ask my roommate to turn on the lights when she leaves before me so I wake up
Set my alarm clock accross the room so I have to go and get it to turn it off
Keep my blinds open so the sun comes through the windows in the morning
Put my notebook/diary into my swim bag so I never forget to record it
7. Adjustments- I would have to adjust if I ever acquired a job in the morning
If I had 8am class
If the pool changed schedule and was closed I would have to schedule around the pools hours, making different hours to swim.

1. Set goal: Have more money in my checking and saving accounts.

2. Define/Specify the goal as a set of target behaviors: Voulnteer to work more shifts at UNI Campus Catering and Lost Island Water Park when it opens, talk to my managers about being scheduled more (hours and days), donate plasma, sell things I don't need (extra clothes, household items, old text books)

3. Keep a record: Print off/keep bank statements and keep them in a organized folder, ask for receipts and don't lose them(keep them with bank statements in folder), watch my spending (especially on things I don't need like ample amounts of makeup and perfume)

4. Graph a baseline: From step three, I would know how much I spend and graph each month how much I spent. The y axis would be amount in dollars and the x axis would be the last day in each month. The graph would be a line graph showing how much money is being spent each month (red line). I would probably make a second line showing how much money I have incoming each month also (green line).

5. Determine contingencies: Emergency situations like flat tires, or trips home cost about $80 on average in gas for holidays. Plus I'm getting an apartment in May, so I will be spending more that month then I have been to get the things I need to live like a bed and food.

6.Determine antecedents: Only keep a specified amount in my checking (100.00)and the rest in my savings from my incoming money, this should be easy because I have the option of online banking so I can save my rent in my savings until it is due.

7. Implement and adjust the contingencies: Maybe have two debit accounts, one for emergencies only and the other for regular spending with my monthly budget (100.00) on it and the extra in savings. I would put my emergency debit card in a place that other important items/documents go, like a lock box along with the folder with recipts and bank statements for security.