The Nudge Theory can not only be used in the public for all people, but it can also be used in daily life for individuals. After I learned about the Nudge Theory, I tried to use it in my life to help me accomplish my goals.

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As a student, there are many things going on with school, especially living in another country speaking in different languages. My host family is really nice this year, but living with a host family is still very different than staying at home. At home, there is always someone reminds me of things that I forgot to do. For example, I take “C100 Vitamin C” and fish oil every day, my grandma always reminds me to have them when I was back in China. But I always forgot about them when I am alone. I tried to figure out the reason why I cannot remember to take the pills. Thinking about previous researches related to the Nudge Theory, for example, blood donation. The blood donation increased only because the institutions made the blood donation place easier for the people to donate blood, like right by the street. Maybe I just did not make the pills easy enough for me to access. I used to put the pills in my room, and I have to take the pills out, go out of my room to get water and then take the pill. So, instead of putting my pills in my room, I put them on the little kitchen table outside, where I always go by every day and it is easier for me to grab water. This is the first test, it did help me to remember to take the pills a lot more often, but, I still forgot sometimes. I tried to think again, how to make it more accessible? Then I figured, maybe it was because that I put the pill bottle in the back close to the wall, there are some other things in the way for me to see the bottle in order to remember. And, I take more than one type of pills, so I need to open two pill bottles. By trying to solve the problem, I found a pill case with four boxes. I put all the pills I need to take in a day in each box. And put the pill case in a place easier for me to see. This time it finally worked. I see the pill case every day so I remembered to take the pills, I just have to open up one box to take all the pills I need and the water is easy for me to grab.

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As a girl, I am always worried about my appearance and weight. There is a saying that there are no ugly women, there are only lazy ones. And unfortunately, I am the lazy ones. I keep forgetting to use this kind of lotions and that kind of cream. For example, I always forgot to put lotion after I take a bath, so, I put the lotion the first place I see when I get out of the bath. Because I have a very dry and sensitive skin, I need to put facial mask a few times a week to give my face more moisturize, I always forgot to put them on, so, I put the facial masks right by the place I wash my face so I can see them and remember to put on a mask.

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I also want to look more fit, not necessarily lighter weight. But it had always been hard to remember doing the exercises I need. Then I realize that every time I watch a movie with skinny ladies or see a celebrity with a nice body. I really want to be as fit as they do and really want to exercise. I think I always need a trigger in order for me to have the motivation. Especially prom, beach week and graduation is coming, I want to look pretty in the pictures. I really need motivations to eat less sugar, fried food and do more exercises. So, I set the screen paper on my phones and iPad to a very fit girl with a nice body. Every time I see the picture makes me want to do more exercise. I also made a chart with all the exercises I need to do for each day so I can cross out each one I did. I print out the chart and put the chart somewhere easy for me to see. Looking at the chart also remind me to exercise.

 

A previous research about candy assumption also inspired me. The research showed that people would eat more candy when candy is more visual and accessible. And also inspired by the Google company, where I went to visit during discovery day, they use the Nudge Theory to help the employees eat more healthy. So they put the healthy drinks and food more accessible for the employees and the “sugar” related drinks and snacks harder to get. I put all my candies, unhealthy snacks in a drawer hard for me to access and hard for me to think about. And I put the more healthy snacks on the first drawer and the drawer easiest to access for me. It turned out that I ate a lot less sugar than last year, a lot of candies left and I did look more fit than last year.

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Yes, maybe I sound really lazy in this essay but think about it yourself. Aren’t we all lazy in some ways? Do you not want things to be easier for you to accomplish the goal? It did take some time to figure out more about yourself and how to deal with yourself, but as you figure everything out, things are going to be a lot easier for you to do. So, try to use the Nudge Theory in your daily life!