Remember the days of gold stars and getting rewarded for doing something good? In school, if you handed your work in on time you could get a gold star. Working hard on a project? A gold star. Being nice to a classmate? That could also warrant a gold star.

The rewards system wasn’t limited to the classroom, either. Clean your room, and you could watch tv. Eat your supper, and you could get dessert. Walk the dog and get a treat. The list goes on and on.

As we grow up, good behavior becomes the accepted norm, and not something you are recognized for. Yet, we’ve spent most of our childhood being conditioned to being rewarded for doing something right. So… as adults when we try to implement something good, the proverbial question comes up: “What’s in it for us?”

You can be your own gold star! Is there a bad habit that you’re wanting to break, or a good habit that you’re wanting to start doing regularly? Give yourself an awards system. On one day, if you reach your goal, then the following day you get a reward of some sort. It can be big or small, depending on what you’re trying to change. And it doesn’t have to be every day either. Set up something that works for you.

Some ideas for rewarding good behavior could include drinking your recommended water intake for the day, eating your recommended servings of fruits and veggies, eating four different colours of fruits and veggies (that can be a more fun way of tracking your intake), exercising the number of minutes each day that you set for yourself, getting your daily step goal, going to bed on time, meditating … the list goes on and on.

Focus on one goal at a time, or one food goal and one exercise goal at a time, so as not to overwhelm yourself. Once one goal you’ve set becomes a habit, you can move onto the next goal. Incidentally, a good rule to follow is the 21/90 rule for habit forming: commit to doing something for 21 days, and once it has become a habit, continue doing it for another 90 days… by breaking up these time frames, experts believe it is easier to manage, and more successful long-term. Another habit-forming theory is that it takes 66 days to form a habit. Do whichever works for you.  

If the tortoise and the hare taught us anything, it’s that slow and steady wins the race!

 

Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay