Think of a specific goal that you have in your life. Something that's a challenge and seems like it will take forever to accomplish. Something hard and tedious. Maybe you want to lose weight, make more money, finish a big project. Maybe you want to clean out and organize your entire house.
Or maybe your goal isn't something huge, but is simply a new habit that you want to form... or a bad habit that you want to break. Maybe you want to start getting up earlier without pushing the snooze button, or you want to start leaving the house on time instead of 15 minutes late. Maybe you want to exercise more, eat healthier, or you want to stop smoking.
Whatever your goal is, it's important to have a reward to focus on in order to motivate you to get there. The problem is, most people think that the only reward should be reaching the goal itself. Like if you want to exercise to lose weight, then being thinner and healthier is the reward. Or if you want to work hard to get a promotion, then the promotion is the reward. But is that really always enough?
The problem with having the goal be your only reward is that when trying to get there, you can easily get discouraged when things get tough. It's easy to lose motivation when it gets hard and tedious. Getting discouraged leads to slower progress, which then leads to guilt, which then leads to even more discouragement, which then lot of times leads to giving up on the goal all together. Can you relate?
When you're reaching for a goal and you're trying to stay disciplined when it gets hard, those kind of negative emotions (discouragement and guilt) are not good motivators... they are never good incentives. If you have negative associations with reaching a goal, it makes it a hundred times harder to get there and eventually it doesn't seem worth it. Having such a huge reward for AFTER you accomplish your goal sometimes just isn't good enough.
So what should you do? Well, in this episode I give you specific strategies on how to effectively reward yourself when trying to reach a goal.
Do you want even more inspiration on how to accomplish goals in your life that seem hard and tedious to achieve? Go back and listen to episode #2 of this podcast, titled "Why Is Change So Hard". In that episode I dive in deep to the psychology behind making positive changes in our lives and why it's just so hard to do sometimes.
You can also download the free worksheet I talk about in that episode called "7 Questions to Ask Yourself to Make Lasting Change". Just go to CarlaRaeArneson.com/change. Or just text the word CHANGEWORKSHEET to 44222... that's CHANGEWORKSHEET with no spaces to 44222.
Do you know anyone needing some extra motivation or inspiration in their life? Share this episode with them by having them go to CarlaRaeArneson.com/episode16.
Or you can share this episode and all the other episodes of the show by having them go LifeMadeSimplePodcast.com.
And don't forget to subscribe to our Podcast show on itunes or whatever podcast app you prefer, to stay updated on all our new episodes.
Links Mentioned in this Show:
Share this Episode: CarlaRaeArneson.com/episode16
Share this Podcast: LifeMadeSimplePodcast.com
Free Worksheet: "7 Questions to Ask Yourself to Make Lasting Change"
Or send a text to 44222 with the word CHANGEWORKSHEET
Free Guide: "9 Ways to Simplify Your Life"
Or send a text to 44222 with the word 9SIMPLIFY
Website: CarlaRaeArneson.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/CarlaRaeArneson
Submit Questions: CarlaRaeArneson.com/AskCarlaRae
Full Transcript of this Episode: CarlaRaeArneson.com/transcript16
