Experiment No. 18: Experiment Redux

The Basics

We’re Trying to Solve: More fairly sharing the load
Target Audience: Partners
Ages: Adults
Category: Assessment and check-in tools
Estimated Time: Varies
Difficulty Level: Varies

Directions

1. Chat with your partner, spouse, or co-parent, and discuss an experiment you’ve attempted that you’d like to revisit. Maybe it’s Experiment No. 1: The Leisure Cosponsor. How did it go last time? What would you like to gain by trying it again? Do you think you’ll be more successful this time? Did one partner not quite hold up their end of the bargain? Or perhaps you simply enjoyed how it went before, and want to enjoy it again! Can’t agree on which experiment to repeat? No worries! Try one this week and another after it’s done!
2. Follow the directions and run the experiment again. Remember, you can view all our past experiments and their step-by-step guides on our Better Life Lab Experiments home page.
3. Assess. How did your repeat experiment go? What did you notice? Are you becoming more aware of the division of labor at home? Questioning more? Talking more? Do you feel like you’ve progressed from when you first began?

The Research Says: One psychological study concluded that new habits take about 10 weeks of repeated action in a similar context before they begin to feel automatic.

Source: Gardner B, Lally P, Wardle J. Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’ and general practice. The British Journal of General Practice.

Connect With the Better Life Lab

Are you going to try this week’s experiment? Do you have a story about how you and your own family solved a problem with the work at home? Is there a specific challenge you’ve been trying to tackle? Can this experiment be improved? Please let us know via this form, at bllx@newamerica.org, or in our Facebook group for BLLx Beta Testers.

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