I wanted to do a 100 days of productivity without failure. I tried many times and I repeatedly failed. I read online multiple times that a rewards system is what reinforces the positive behaviors.
But I was always conflicted over what I would use for rewards. I love doing shit on my phone, browsing Reddit, wasting time on the internet.. typical horrible habits. But "rewarding" myself with internet time would lead to hours of wasted time since I could never pull myself away from the screen once I started.
So I decided to implement a different type of rewards system. And it started with a small cup of hot chcoolate.
I am Canadian and obviously a huge Tim Hortons fan. I don't drink coffee but I love their hot chocolate. Right now, Tim Hortons is doing a "roll up the rim to win" contest and this is what inspired my rewards system.
The way Tim Hortons structures their "wins" requires the multiple purchases of coffee/tea etc to see if you won something. Sometimes you don't win and the feeling is meh, but the anticipation is what motivates us to play over and over again. It's a way Tim Hortons tricks their consumers to purchase more.
So basically what I did was grabbed a shoe box, and cut up a piece of paper into strips. I got 30 strips in total. One 1 strip I would write something really big. Like get a new designer purse, and then on 5 strips I would write other rewards like, treating myself to a manicure or a hair treatment at the salon, a massage, etc. and on the remaining slips I would write something encouraging but essentially it said "try again."
I made sure the 1 slip was something I really wanted. A designer purse isn't something I can purchase on the regular but the thrill of knowing that one day I could pull that out of the box motivated the shit out of me to do my to-do list. And even if I "lost" it made me happy knowing that even though I didn't get a winning slip, I still did everything I wanted to accomplish in the day.
I wouldn't treat myself to a slip of paper after every single positive thing I did, but rather at the end of the day.
For example (to illustrate my method):
My list for the day consists of cooking, cleaning, waking up at 6am, flossing, exercising, studying, homework, etc.
If I complete everything, I'm allowed to take a slip of paper out of the box to see if I won something.
It took me 27 days of being on maximize overdrive to win my first big reward (which was going to the spa for a day).
And these rewards are "expensive" but I don't feel guilty rewarding myself with them because I earned it. It's a guilt free method of making myself feel like the hard work I've had to do for an x amount of days is the reason why I got this major treat.
As for the 5 small rewards something like, go to the movies/arcade, eat a Twix bar, etc. work as well.
I hope this helps someone here!
Submitted February 28, 2017 at 08:54PM by pizzaburgers http://ift.tt/2lUj3fG
No comments:
Post a Comment