Last Updated on July 18, 2021 by Sarah McCubbin
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Have you ever wondered how you can reward yourself without food or money?
After all, most of the things we want require either or both. But what if they don’t. What if we can reward ourselves for progress on our goals without food OR money?
There is nothing inherently bad about food or money. Both are good! But using food as a constant reward can be a problem….especially if your goal is to lose weight! And spending money…well if spending is our default reward, we may be just filling our houses with more things we will need to declutter later. Both can be great rewards when used carefully…but some of us need regular affirmation!!
One of the keys to success in productivity and goal making is celebrating the wins!
We need to stop and smell the roses and savor success both bigh and small. It helps us appreciate all the small imperfect action we have taken to reach this place and motivate us on toward the next step. There is a tendancy in our success driven culture to skip the celebration and just keep moving…but this is NOT GOOD!! As a parent, I regularly celebrate my children’s success, so I need to set an example that they should continue to celebrate even as adults.
So what are the ways we can celebrate without food or money?
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- Tell someone about your success or achievement. Call a friend or make a Facebook post. Toot your own horn!
- Prioritize time for you to do something YOU want. it can be 30 minutes or several hours. But put away the to-do list. For years I enjoyed scrapbooking, but I stopped when life got busy. But I’ve pulled it back out again as a way to decompress and really enjoy something just for me!
- Write a thank you note to someone who helped you with your success.
- Write a journal entry about achieving this part of the goal.
- Light a candle and read a book…just for fun.
- Call a friend you haven’t talked to in awhile. Or, better yet, hang out with your friend!
- Go for a walk outside and appreciate all the details around you. Hear the birds…the wind in the trees or the crunch of leaves underfoot. This might be in your own backyard or nearby at a local park.
- Make a list of 10 things you are grateful for today.
- Do some self care….bubble bath, home pedicure or manicure or maybe just a nap in the recliner outside.
- Watch a movie on Netflix with your favorite people…at my house I might have to watch a Marvel movie with my kids…but time with my people…love it!
- Take a picture to capture the success you are celebrating. Then take that picture and put it where you will see it often…you are amazing!!
You may look back at this list and say, well…but these don’t FEEL like rewards. It can be an adjustment to alter our idea of rewards. However, when we do, we are creating a life where we can celebrate all the little wins…and we can teach our kids to do this too.
A journal full of wins is a gift to ourselves when we get discouraged. A letter to a friend will brighten their day as well as ours. A little self care or a walk outside can go a long way toward a peaceful mind. And pictures…well they are priceless. They let us capture moments in time so we can celebrate the wins over and over again.