The Power of Rewarding Yourself

Goal Setting is Easy

photo credit: Kamal H.

… it’s achieving goals where many of us tend to run into problems.

Why do you suppose that is?

Do we set unrealistic goals? Do we not try hard enough? Maybe we’re not always totally honest about what we really want? These are all possible roadblocks.

But, I think the #1 Reason that People Don’t Achieve Their Goals is …

We spend way too much time Beating Ourselves Up.

You know how it is. You get to the end of the day, and look back at your “to do” list, and our natural instinct is to immediately start looking for all the ways that we were either not good enough, or just plain not enough.

If you’re anything like me, on any given day, these “nots” are all to easy too find.

But, is all this Negative Focus doing us any Good?

If we go to bed every night, Knowing that we haven’t even achieved All of our short-term goals for the day; over time, what do you suppose that’s going to do to our motivation, when it comes to setting and working towards our long-term goals?

“What’s the use? I might as well just give up now.”

And that’s how it starts. We’ve planted the seed that will eventually cause us to fall short of our dreams and ambitions. And here’s the reason why …

We tend to Get exactly What we Expect

… and our short-term experience tends to be the primary driver of our long term expectations. For all intents and purposes, we’re teaching ourselves to Expect Failure.

But, what if we tried something different?

What if, every night, instead of looking for all the things we Didn’t Do; we instead make a list a of all the Great things (no matter how small or seemingly insignificant) that we DID accomplish that day?

And then, Reward and Praise ourselves for our Achievements.

Do you think it might make a little bit of a difference? Is it possible we might be teaching ourselves to view our long-term goals through a different, (more productive) prism?

It’s no accident that when I make an entry to my Online Dream Board, before I even think about listing my Goals or Intentions, I first write a little about …

Things that I’m Thankful For

Things that I Like About Myself

And where do you suppose I come up with these “good” things?

You guessed it … my “reward list” from the night before.

I hope you found this helpful.

Keep havin FuN!
Todd