project: drink more water

[mephisto]

To replace my coffee-drinking with water-drinking I have created a new project: drink more water. The outcome should be that I drink water throughout the day and no more coffee (green tea in the morning is allowed too) until this is a habit. Now I'm having trouble getting this into the system.

There should be a next action, and that is imho "drink water (instead of coffee)". But it's like a sticky NA: after I finish it I can't cross it as done as that is what the next action is too. And also, it's more of a NA that serves as a reminder since I'm not looking at my NA list whenever I want to take something to drink.

It sure is a simple project but I found myself lost in how to implement it. And suggestions are welcome.

[kayjess]

I'm sure others will have good ideas and/or experience on this. But my first shot would be ...

First, consider putting this on a checklist that you see either daily, weekly, or possibly throughout the day (like a mantra or inspirational thought). Then it's more a nurturing/maintenance thing, rather than a project. For example, I keep of things like 'next date with ...' and name each of my kids. When I see that list in my weekly review, I know exaclty the next action on that ongoing desire for me. Email my daughter to find a free night. Talk to my son when I get home from school. Stuff like that. I suppose I could name these projects, "Child X relationship strengthened" or something like that, but checklists work great for me (as long as I'm doing my weekly review). This intersects with higher altitude stuff ... like family goals, fitness/health goals, etc

Second, if you want to keep it as a project, you might tinker with the wording a bit in terms of the name of the project(s). I like using a subject and a clear past tense verb to name my projects. For example, 'Coffee habit stopped' and/or 'Hydrating habit started'. It doesn't really make the NA jump out at you, but it is a bit more clear in terms of the successful outcome. Then get super practical, creative and specific in terms of NAs on those projects. Do you have the water you need in the places you will be? Have you created the reminders you need in places you will see? Have you asked others to hold you accountable? Have you talked to someone who has kicked a similar habit or hydrates better for ideas? etc etc ... (By the way, I don't know if you did this or not, but posting this question on this forum was a good example of an @computer NA for this project ... not sure if you gave yourself credit for that or not.)

Another route, could be using your calendar as a reminder until the habit is a bit more in place. When I was recently on an anti-biotic, I went ahead and entered each pill reminder right into my calendar because it will ding and literally remind me (Palm on the go, or laptop in the office/home).

Since I'm trying to do a similar thing in my life regarding coffee/water ... I'll add something else, a bit more of a life-hack than GTD in particular. Have bottles of water everywhere, ahead of time. In your home, car, office, briefcase, where every you can think of. The bottles become both visible reminders to drink them as well as handy inventory. The easier it is, the more likely I am to actually do it.

Hope that helps ... happy hydrating.

[kangmi]

If you have a daily fluid goal, you could:

• Fill up a jug with the amount of water you want to drink
• And set out the number of tea bags (or quantity of tea leaves) that you want to use in a day.

When you've reached your goal, you can check it off your list.

If you're using an electronic system, I assume that you've set this up as a recurring task.

[Jamie Elis]

I second filling a jug.

I second the check list.

You can also use an alarm to cue yourself.

But how much do you think you want to drink? Be specific but reasonable, like one 8oz glass with each meal and two in between.Clarify your outcome.

You can put some rubber bands on your wrist in the morning and remove one each time you drink a glass of water.

Many offices only have water fountains, do you need to bring in some paper cups for yourself?

Do you want to carry a water bottle? Do you own one?

Are you okay with buying bottled water when you are out and about?

So, based on your strategy, you will need to decide on the next action.

Good luck!

[gotbisco]

I'd try to make it an all day event on your calender, but you might become numb to seeing it after a while.

More effective, imo, would be to make each bottle a seperate NA. So that way you'd have something to check off and you could also track your consumption.

[Paul@Pittsburgh]

Some good suggestions... I agree with the idea of having a water bottle or fixed number of water bottles which you would consume each day, or a check list where you check it off each time you empty it.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I have a related question which I will post elsewhere.

Paul

[darlakbrown]

How about this...
rather than going off coffee cold turkey.... or cold coffee.. sorry:

create an action plan in excel where you slowly move off of coffee and list out day by day how you're going to do this, your next action could be to update your "drinking plan"....

day 1: goal: 2 c. coffee/5 c. water actual:
day 2: 1 c. coffee/6 c. water
etc. etc.

If you can do this for a week, you should be off the coffee and on to the green tea and your body should regain its thirst mechanisms to naturally trigger your urge for water again.

darla

[WebR0ver]

For water bottles that are being refilled, I've seen the suggestion before to put a rubber band on the bottle each morning for each bottle you wish to drink. After you drink a bottle (or as you fill it), remove one rubber band.

[Brent]

Lots of great ideas!

To address the question of where to fit this into the GTD system: I may be wrong, but it seems to me that GTD isn't meant for little daily habits and reminders. You do need to find some external reminder; this sort of thing doesn't really belong on a Next Actions list.

I find that I have to tie these things to an existing habit. When I started using hair-growth spray, I rarely remembered to use it until I added it to the end of my morning routine of shaving, washing my face, etc. Now I use it every day.

[mephisto]

it seems to me that GTD isn't meant for little daily habits and reminders

Or I just need to be a llittle more creative.

Thanks for all suggestions.