The Benefits of Small Rewards

Eep! I’ve gone a whole month again without posting. Of course, this time it was because I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNo), have had SEVERAL flu bugs attack me and my kids, and then my parents came for Thanksgiving, which became strictly family time (a good thing).

Enough with the excuses, though, I want to talk about NaNo. Yes, I did it! I won! And best of all, I finished a book I wanted to finish two and a half years ago. As another major positive, I established a daily writing habit I’m happy to have back in my life. The win-wins of NaNo!

I read somewhere that only about 14% of the people who sign up for NaNo actually finish it. That’s extremely low but hey—it’s an extreme ambition to write 50,000 words in one month. Most of us have lives beyond the keypad.

In light of that low statistic, I wanted to share two things that helped me see my goal through because they can apply to any goal-setting endeavor. The first was giving myself small (or relatively small) rewards. Second, I created transition rituals to signal my writing time. Today, I’m going to talk about rewarding only. Next post I’ll talk about signal rituals.

Some rewards I used or thought about using for daily or hourly milestones:

Soaking in a bath or hot tub

Spritzing a favorite smell (trust me—this is a sense that is far too ignored. A good smell can lift your soul out of any dungeon.)

Listening to a favorite song

Taking a short nap

Permitting myself to make random lists or free journal writing (I love making lists)

Volunteering time in my son’s class

Mind wandering for a few minutes (For some people, a 5 minute break for every 25 minutes of focused work helps. It’s called the Pomodoro Technique.)

Checking facebook/email/twitter etc. for a few minutes

Engaging in some breathing exercises

Lighting a candle

Sitting on the patio to soak up the sun rays

Sipping a cup of tea or a Pellegrino soda.

For big milestones, I did things like:

Go on a dinner date with my spouse

Go to lunch with my friends

Go to the movies

Go shopping without the kids

Go to a favorite hiking spot

Reorganize a pantry/cupboard or space I that was bothering me

Redecorate my desk

Buy a new essential oil and use it

You would need to think up your own rewards, but giving yourself a little pleasure is a huge benefit. It pushes productivity and it doesn’t have to be just one more thing to spend money on if you are creative.

As I was preparing this post, I came across this great article in Psychology Today about how little rewards can boost our enthusiasm about a task. A good read!

XO