Introduction

I don’t know how to relax. In fact, it has gotten to the point where I don’t like relaxing, especially in the middle of the day. Watching TV in the afternoon? That’s cutting into productive work hours! Sleeping in? That’s like giving away half the day! So even as the COVID-19 pandemic was racing its way around the world and beginning to spread in the U.S., my life was full steam ahead. 

In the weeks leading up to Pennsylvania’s stay-at-home order, I was working to finish out my Winter Term studies at Drexel University. After class, I was running practices for the club field hockey team, attending Society of Women Engineers meetings and events, teaching the scientific method to students at Mighty Writers, playing in an adult field hockey league, and preparing for my upcoming Co-op position at an engineering firm. The only modifications I made to my daily habits were trying to avoid touching my face and regularly utilizing the hand sanitizer that I carried in my backpack. Then schools closed, finals were moved online, my Co-op and jobs everywhere were cancelled, and the situation at hand began to feel significantly closer to home. 

Battling Boredom

Within the first week of stay-at-home orders, my Instagram and Twitter feeds were bombarded with people already complaining about boredom. I found this mindset unhealthy and counterproductive, so I actively resisted this type of thinking. The least I could do was to commit myself to staying at home and doing my part to combat this virus without complaining. However, I also knew that I would need something to fill my time, especially sinceI was not working. So I did one of the things that I do best: I made a list. 

This list was a compilation of tasks that had fallen to the bottom of my other to do lists (yeah, there are many lists), or behaviors that I had wanted to adopt. They ranged from filling out the census and rebudgeting my bank account to hanging pictures in my apartment, cleaning out my closet, and untangling my necklaces. Other more ambitious tasks included learning Spanish, learning how to play guitar, and studying for the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam.  

On my first day without any work or finals, I began checking things off of my list. Fix my broken sunglasses? Check. Mail Emma’s birthday card? Check. Pack my winter clothes? Check. However, as the week went by, less and less things were getting checked off the list. My motivation to finish these tasks was evaporating and I was becoming frustrated with myself. Why, even with all this time, could I still not get these tasks done?

Producing Productivity

During the first few weeks of working for the Peace Innovation Institute, Margarita Quihuis presented us with the Fogg Behavior Model. The Fogg Behavior Model represents the theory that behavior happens when motivation, ability, and prompt come together at the same time. So, if something is hard to do (low ability) and you have low motivation to do it, the chances of that behavior happening are extremely low.

Learning about the Fogg Behavior Model helped to put what I perceived as a lack of productivity into perspective. Yes, I had prompted myself to complete these tasks and implement these behaviors by writing a list, but that is not enough. My motivation to study for the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam every day was low since testing centers were closed and I wasn’t sure when I would be able to actually take the exam. Plus, my ability to concentrate was being impeded by the overwhelming distractions of COVID-19 and protests erupting across the country. So of course this behavior was not occurring! Ability, motivation, and prompt were not coming together. 

Knowing this, I began to reflect on the tasks I wanted to accomplish. Maybe I couldn’t bring myself to learn Spanish because it is fairly hard to do, but perhaps I could do 3 Duolingo lessons per day, which is less daunting and easier (high ability). Similarly, instead of organizing all of my computer files at once, perhaps I could tackle one folder per week. So I started practicing what the Peace Innovation Institute preaches: I broke my tasks and desired behaviors down into tiny, quick behavior experiments. 

In fact, I ran a multitude of experiments in May. For example, I set a goal (my prompt) to meditate every day. I thought that meditation could help to curb my COVID-19 anxieties and more generally, make me ~chill out~, which was my motivation. Next, I needed to make this behavior as easy as possible. For the first week, I planned to experiment with meditating first thing in the morning. So, I set my alarm 15 minutes earlier and placed the device with my Headspace app in a location where I would see it easily when I woke up. Overall, I found that this method worked very well. I consistently woke up with my alarm, saw the device, and was reminded to go sit, look out the window, and meditate. 

The next week’s experiment, which involved meditating during the middle of the day, had very different results. I found that I struggled to carve out time to go perform the behavior. When I did find time, I was unable to fully clear my mind as I was thinking of the work that I needed to do. This made meditating significantly less enjoyable and lowered my motivation to perform the behavior. For the third week, I attempted nightly meditation. I would head to bed slightly earlier than before, making sure that I had my device with me. Although this was a nice way to unwind from the day, and fairly easy to do, I discovered that it was not as fulfilling as my day-time meditations. Therefore, from the results of these tiny experiments, I found that I was most likely to perform the behavior and enjoy it in the morning when I was motivated to kick off my day in a positive way and I was able to easily do just that. 

Setting the Model into Motion

Although you may not be trying to implement the same behaviors as me or accomplish similar tasks, the concepts can be applied to your own work, school, or home environment. Why have you been struggling to accomplish that assignment at work? Is there a way to increase your ability to perform? What is holding you back from starting your peace tech passion project? Maybe you need to be motivated by fellow Peace Innovation Network members. Perhaps you are still waiting for the right prompt to inspire you. Whatever it may be, take some time to reflect on your productivity and what you would like to accomplish during COVID-19. Perhaps this unprecedented time is the right time for you. Meanwhile, celebrate each win along the way -- we are living through a pandemic afterall.

For further reading, I encourage you to check out BJ Fogg’s book, Tiny Habits.