What is a personal reward system? And how do I create one? Will it help me make progress with my goals? – I hear all your questions, and don’t worry we will answer them all in this article.
What is a personal reward system?
A personal reward system is a method of rewarding small achievements, in order to motivate towards the next achievement.
If you play any computer games you will be very familiar with this concept.
It’s very clever really. If we celebrate small wins we are building trust in ourselves – self-belief – that we can in fact accomplish what we want to.
Will it help progress with goals?
Yes, it should.
That’s the short answer. The long answer is that it will if we create the right personal reward system for ourself, as there are many ways that actually lead to progress sabotage.
For example, if I decide that I will do two weeks of intensive fitness training, it might be a bad idea to set a little reward for myself of: A week off training and McDonalds every day.
In other words, if you want your rewards to help you, you need to make them align with progress not set you back.
How to create a system that works
How do I create a personal reward system?
You need to follow these 4 elements of a reward system in order to properly reward yourself in a way that makes you progress with your goals.
Have a clear goal strategy
How will we know how to celebrate small wins, if we do not know what a win is?
Just as is the case for computer games, we need to set clear dividers or levels into our goal stategy in order to have a clear point of achievement.
This occurs if you set SMART goals.
It’s important that we have some goal steps and a plan for how we are going to reach those steps.
Think about motivation
This is an often overlooked section and so, so important.
When playing that video game, do you notice something about the rewards that you get. They are often something helpful towards the next level in the game – more coins, more boosts or hints, you get the idea.
How do we link that to life?
Once you have thought about your levels or steps in achieving your goals, think about what you need, what will motivate you through that particular level?
Choosing your reward
Now you can actually think about the celebration or the reward.
When you have decided what will motivate you, plan a reward that will aid with that motivation. Something that will help with your progress.
Let’s think of an example.
You have been working out every day for two weeks, it’s time for your reward.
Your next level is to include swimming once a week. So your reward could be lovely new swimwear. But if your budget doesn’t stretch to that it could be that you set new wallpaper on your phone and computer of swimming motivation, or plan to meet up with a friend who you want to ask to join you for your swimming trips.
What types of rewards are there?
There are usually internal or external rewards.
The feeling of progress is considered an internal reward. This is worth thinking about when choosing your reward.
Ask yourself: what will give me an internal feeling of progress?
Set yourself up for success
One thing I often say is WORK WITH YOURSELF, not against yourself.
What I mean is get to know your own inclinations, and work with what suits you.
For example, do you work better if someone else is keeping you accountable, then share your plan to a goal buddy and get them to release your rewards.
Do you find it tempting to quit early? Then set your steps small, and often, and base your reward around the times you work through the quit point.
In other words – see what works for you personally and don’t get too focused on what others are doing.
Keep Going
The whole point of a reward system is to keep going – so bear that in mind.
Do reward systems work?
Yes! We are emotional beings and we tend to do what our heart desires. We can work with that and provide personal rewards which keeps us doing what we need. It is a fantastic motivation.
Check this out if you are interested in goal setting:
Remember that your wins are progress and should be celebrated. It’s awesome when we achieve something good for ourselves.
Thank you so much for stopping by and reading this.
Please do connect and reach out, I’m always interested in your story.
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