I don't know if it's because I grew up with parents that gave us incentives for getting our homework done and rewards for excelling in school, or I just have an athlete mentality and perform better when there is an end goal; but that still holds true for me today. It works on toddlers as well as on almost 25-year old unemployed college graduates (I think ultimately, I should thank/blame my dad. When I was younger, he would reward me with new shoes for soccer goals and cash for making my serve over the net).
When I give myself incentives to be productive, I am 100% more motivated and determined to complete a task or knock things off my to-do list. I'm sure I'm not the only one that does this...
For example: if I run 1 more mile than planned, I can buy myself something from that boutique I've been eyeing OR if I cook every night this week, I can treat myself to gelato from around the corner.
So today, I did just that. I gave myself a list of to-do's with an end reward in mind. I power-housed 5 applications, did some 'maintenance' emailing, some ironing (ew), and thoroughly cleaned the apartment. And then I treated my toes to a much-needed pedicure up the street. I went with 'masquerade belle,' an oxblood/maroon color to embrace Fall (despite the 90 degree day we had today).
It's amazing what a little incentive can do. Now my plan is to pick up some sushi and martini ingredients for a solo movie night at home (while Felix gets spoiled by Google at the 49ers game).
When I started to read this post I instantly thought about how you got paid every time you got a serve over when we were on the Sand-shark team. ha!
ReplyDeleteHaha I know - he kept doing that all the way into high school because I was TERRIBLE at serving. Until one game I got like 10 over in a row and he had to pay me $200 or something!
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