Rewards for building self-discipline and motivation

[Radek Pilich]

I am starting this topic hoping that you guys will share your way of rewarding yourself for getting things done.

The thing is, I don't know how to reward myself, and I am pretty sure that without good reward system keeping me motivated I am giving a lot of chances to failure.

To be honest, although it sounds selfish, I think rewarding myself with "money to spare" could be the way. I quite like to spend money in order to "hack" my life and I realized I have spent quite a lot this year just being curious to try new things and to get things which looks "cool and useful". I would like to become more frugal, starting thinking on my future and taking some of the money to invest rather than spend (I am still a student without regular income). Therefore it seems to me as a good idea to set amount of money I made as an "investment money" and only take money to spend right now from capital when I accomplish my bigger goals.
This could be a good way in the mid/long-term, rewarding myself on weekly, monthly basis, however the problem is I need something how to reward myself immediately, on the day-to-day basis.

I refuse rewarding myself with food, this will go against the tide, because one of my desired behaviors is to eat really well planned and scheduled diet.

How to reward myself for blog post written? How to reward myself for having done all the task scheduled for particular day? What reward are you looking for while opening one of the books on that pile that needs to be gone through in order to write your school assessment?

[Sunnybayes]

Well, honestly I think that doing the work is the reward, and that you got to know how to switch up the rewards. Its rewards to post a blog if you enjoy what you are creating, but then you've got to switch up the reward by going out with your friends, or spending too much time on blogging will get on your nerves.

[finandom]

Well, after doing some works, maybe after writing a post for my blog, I just feel comfortable, release and excited because I know I did something for my blog and my business. I think this is the most important rewards for me.

However, I also make some big goals. For example, if my income(online) increased, I will go for a holiday because I love travel and this give me the motivation to hit my goals.

Thank You For Your Time!
Harrison

[Shamou]

Personally I think that rewards for a job well done or for being disciplined is for children…

Adults should get the reward out of the personal satisfaction derived from the fact that you can keep a personal commitment and that you are a mature and responsible individual…

If you need the stick and the carrot… you are simply not mature…

.

[Brutha]

People aren't like Pavlos dogs. Children aren't either.
People need a sense of meaning to be motivated. You should feel good when you have written your blog post, because it is a way to express yourself.
If writting blog posts isn't fun for you I would doubt that you:
a) Make any money with it
b) Have the motivation to write your posts

[WanderingOak]

I have always believed in the philosophy of 'work hard, play hard'. At the end of a hard day's work (either at the office, or at home mining drywall dust ) I like to clean up, sit back and have a cold one. If beer ain't your thing, then you could have a cup of your favorite tea, either by yourself in queit contemplation, or with friends. My reward for finishing all of the work that needs to be done on my house is to finally be able to put it on the market. Another good reward is just to take some time off every now and then. If, for example, you finish everything on your weekly list early, you could take a few hours off and go to a museum or an art show.

[bradb]

I think there are two kinds of rewards that are motivating:

1. Immediate, non goal-related rewards.
2. Rewards from achieving your goal.

I find the latter has a much stronger pull on my motivation than the former. Anytime I have a slight drop in motivation, I just remind myself of why I'm building what I'm building (which is a combination of what I want to give to the world, what I want to prove to myself, and what kind of lifestyle I want, both right now and in the future.)

But when I do use immediate rewards to stimulate action, it's stuff particular to what I'm into, like rewarding myself with reading a really interesting PD article I stumbled across, or heading out on my longboard for an hour.

[aabukar]

For me, i reward myself by doing something different than what i have done but still one of my objectives .. to make it clear

for example ...if i accomplished my studying goal ... i reward myself by exercising on the treadmill or by hanging out with my friends as a way to nurture my relationship with them ... catch up what they are doing ..etc.

If i accomplished my goal in exercising I reward my self by reading a good PD book ....etc.

I dont know why it works but when i reward myself by working on a task that i need to do (but of different type) somehow i fool myself and i believe it is a reward ... i just feel happy while doing it ... but when i do the same activity as a task not a reward for another task i just can't wait until it is finished weird right

[silicon toad2000]

I agree with most sentiments here, if the success of an effort isn't reward enough in itself then perhaps it wasn't a worthwhile endeavour in the first place.