Don’t Forget: Treat Yourself!

By Nick Glavan

For me, rewards aren’t always a consciously labeled treat. In times past, I would reward myself for a week’s job well done by setting up a social gathering with friends or planning to attend a musical over the weekend. Sometimes it was something small like watching a YouTube video or snagging a Reese’s peanut butter cup from the freezer (a life-changing hack). However, amidst the hustle to assimilate to pandemic work and life procedures, I recently realized I had put on hold this vital reward-granting process. 

I know myself to be susceptible to the psychological principles of reinforcement. Most of us can recall the famous experiment of Pavlov’s dog. In the experiment, Pavlov uses classical conditioning to make the dog automatically salivate at the sound of bell. To train the dog to do this, Pavlov would ring the bell anytime the dog was fed. After enough conditioning, the dog no longer needed to be fed to salivate, and would salivate just by hearing the bell. Possibly inspired by the prank Jim Halpert pulls on Dwight in the classic The Office scene, I figured I could trick myself into more useful behaviors beyond salivation. 

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In reality, what I ended up doing was closer to operant conditioning. The main difference was that I wanted to train myself by linking special treats with voluntary behavior, rather than instinctual ones like salivating. It’s the same principle that my parents used in potty training and my teachers used reinforcing classroom rules. Just now, I am applying it to adult life. ​

Here are a few things I learned about reinforcing my own productivity: ​​​

• Planning ahead is key. I need to be able to look ahead to my reward. If I don’t set it ahead of time and say, “I’ll do something nice when I finish this,” it not only would lack the motivational pull that’s supposed to encourage me to be productive, but most times I would end up doing a common-place reward that didn’t feel worthwhile. 
  
• Keep it special! This is one of the most important parts for me. Watching a TV show became part of my quarantine schedule, so it no longer carried the “special” designation as a reward. I’ve learned to save certain shows for reward purposes, and expanded my list of potential reward options through the help of some online recommendations. 
  
• Follow through, for better or worse. Especially in stressful times, I find it easier to soothe myself and grant the reward even if I fell short of the goal. That’s almost always a bad call. If you miss the goal, save the reward for when you’ve earned it, and let that motivate you to try harder next time. 
  

• Stay in balance. Since I am in control of both the task and the reward, I have to be realistic when it comes to assigning equivalent treats for my productivity. For small tasks, like starting a load of laundry or typing up notes from a meeting, I like to set small rewards like lighting a candle or playing music for the next 15 minutes. Bigger tasks are worth bigger rewards. 
  
• Find what works for you. Some of my rewards could be considered the standard operation in your daily environment. As a reward, I save candles and TV shows. Maybe you save reading chapters of books or bath bombs or going on a hike as a reward. Find what feels like a treat for yourself and save it as motivation for completing a necessary task. 
  

I hope with these tips, you can pick an activity you aren’t particularly motivated to complete, assign a reward to it, and reinforce your own productivity. No matter how big or small, remember to give yourself a reward for a job well done so you can encourage yourself to keep working towards your goals.