“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
- Oprah Winfrey
Give yourself a pat on the back for holding strong to your New Year’s Resolution!
As extra incentive to stay the course, it’s time to create your Rewards System (RS). A RS is a way of creating a success focused mindset. It allows you to celebrate your dedication, effort, and progress from moment to moment vs waiting till you accomplish your long term goal (the end goal). When you celebrate the small gains, they add up quickly!
It’s hard to stay dedicated if you just think about the end result. Especially, if the end result (long term goal) is a year or more away. Think about it, is it better to reward yourself after accomplishing a daily task or is it better to just wait and reward yourself for reaching your long term goal? I’m willing to bet that most people will be more invested, interested, and find it to be more enjoyable to reward daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly accomplishments vs waiting till the end.
Steps to create your Rewards System with SCORE:
a. Simple: don’t overthink it. Your system of rewards don’t need to be complicated. Just sync them to your goals.
b. Consistent: to accomplish your goal(s) you need to have a regular schedule. Take a moment to review your long term goal, mid term goals, short term goals, and deadlines you’ve set. For example, a long term goal can be set for a year; midterm goals can be monthly, and short term goals can be weekly and daily. If your goals and deadlines are on par, keep them; if they need adjusting, make adjustments. Your goals and deadlines define what you want and when you want it. It’s your guide to get it done!
c. Observe by seeing your progress. The more you recognize your short, mid, and long term accomplishments, the easier it is to reinforce your positive actions, efforts, and habits. Journal your accomplishments each day.
d. Reward your effort and dedication, not your outcomes. Rewards don’t have to be big, expensive, and lavish. They serve as a symbolic gesture for accomplishing your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. So make them simple and take time to enjoy them.
e. Explain: choose rewards for each of your goals. Then, explain why you chose those rewards (prizes), and why they are relevant to your accomplishments.
In the end, scoring points and accomplishing goals are fun! Create your RS and SCORE each day!
Why is it important?
Creating a RS for accomplishing your short term (daily and weekly), mid term (monthly), and long term (yearly) goals makes success immediate. In my own opinion, waiting till the end can make a goal anticlimactic. On the other hand, when I can see the change and progress over time, the sum of all those small moments make the end result special and more enjoyable! And, I find it easier to accomplish those long term goals because I am motivated and excited each day to accomplish the task at hand.
Remember, following through on the goals is your commitment to optimal performance. Celebrating and rewarding your effort and dedication promote personal satisfaction, self-efficacy, and motivation.
Short and Long Term Effects
You will see, feel, and act with more motivation, focus, productivity, and produce better results!
Why? Because you can see how you are learning and how you are growing each day!