Reward Yourself

 (Originally posted on LinkedIn Pulse)

Have you ever found yourself less appreciated than you deserved? Have you ever found yourself doing or saying something out of impulse and regretted later? Have you ever found yourself doing something you hate to do?

If I have observed human life correctly so far, the answer to all these questions would be yes.

1) Our life is becoming more and more stressful every passing day. The expectations of the world from you are very high and sometimes unrealistic. You push yourself to the edge to meet these expectations in your professional and personal life. Any performance that is less than 100% is considered inefficient and insufficient. You might not be penalized for performing less than 100%, however, you do not get appreciated unless you achieve 100%.

How do you keep yourself motivated and positive in this situation? When no one else understands your hard-work and dedication, you owe it to yourself to reward yourself.

2) If you are anything like me, you have said and done things that you regretted later. You are very well aware that doing or saying certain things will have bad consequences, but you are unable to contain your emotions and impulse. Later, you end up regretting and find yourself thinking - 'I wish I didn't say/do it.'

How do you control yourself from doing something you know you will regret later? My formula is to just take a moment before following my impulse and tell myself if I succeed to conquer my anger (or any other emotion or impulse that might have bad consequences) at this time, I will reward myself with that pair of honey amber earrings that I saw at the mall the other day which I thought were too expensive.

3) How do you keep yourself motivated to do something you need to do and have to do, but simply hate to do? Just tell yourself - 'I will reward myself with a day at Spa if I complete this task in time.' This way when you are doing that boring task, you will be motivated to complete it because of that reward you have set for yourself.

This simple formula of rewarding yourself will have tremendous positive impact on your attitude, motivation, self-confidence and morale. The reward doesn't always have to be expensive or even monetary. The important thing to remember is - to define the reward, and do not let yourself have it until and unless you accomplish your goal. When I was a student and didn't have enough money to reward myself, I used to reward myself by watching a movie on my laptop, or by going to the beach, or by having a large pizza. Even the smallest of the reward can bring the greatest impact on your mind. It's the thought that counts, right?