My Self Management Plan

Self-management plans are great tools to help individuals achieve their goals. They include the use of self-management strategies, such as self-monitoring and self-reward to monitor and reward people’s behaviors during the process. Selecting realistic goals is also essential in self-management plans because it helps preventing failure and unrealistic expectations. Thus, in this paper I will develop my self-management plan to change an undesired behavior.

Behavior to Change

Working and studying full time leaves me with less time to take care of my physical health. I think it would be helpful to go at least twice a week to the gymnasium for two hours each day. I spend eight hours a day, every day, sitting down looking at a computer at work,

I think I lose interest in just picking up weights and running alone. Therefore, it would be a good idea to ask my partner to join me since he enjoys working out. Another reason why I tend to avoid going to the gym is because I do not have much knowledge about what exercises are good for me and how many repetitions I should do to make improvements. Thus, I plan on writing down what areas of my body I want to improve and then do research about what machines are going to help me with those areas and the recommended repetitions.

My goal is to add physical exercise in my life, not to lose weight, but to be healthy physically and mentally. For this, I am available to go to the gym on Mondays and Thursdays at 5:30pm, after work, which also works for my partner. This way, I will have time to get out of work, eat something to get energy, and then go exercise. Since I work at FIU, I decided it is best to go to the gym at FIU, which is free because I am also a student, and I will not have to drive outside of campus in order to go and pay for another gym. Finally, I will place the priorities that I usually have on both days to the rest of the days of the week in order to have a peaceful mind and enjoy the

I will design a log in Word, where I can confirm weekly the attendance to the gym on Monday and Thursday. Additionally, I will write down the areas I worked out in the Notes section of the log. This way I will know what areas I focused on every week. In this log I will also weekly register the hours I spent in the gym (a minimum of two hours) and the time in and out. Looking at this log every week and realizing my progress will also motivate me to continue going. Self-rewards serve as reinforcements to keep me motivated and focused on achieving my goal. Since I enjoy celebrating, every month when I look at the completion of workouts registered in my log, I will celebrate it by doing something I like including, eating a tasty dessert, having a night spa, going to a cooking class, going to the movies, get a massage, going on a trip with my family, go to a jazz concert, go bowling, go to a museum, have a picnic, and many more ideas. By rewarding myself, I will go to the gym to exercise to improve my health and also to be able to enjoy these other activities with more energy and enthusiasm, knowing that I am taking care of myself. This is one of the most important tasks a counselor has in order to help others, take care of