Use Tiny Rewards to Motivate Yourself to Stick to Your Tiny Goals Every Day

I mean — really small rewards.

I recorded the Ninja Writers podcast this afternoon and found myself talking about how even when I’m stuck with the worst parts of my job — the parts I don’t enjoy, much — I can’t believe that I get to do this thing for a living.

Right now, I’m working on writing the first draft of a YA novel. I’m at about 63,000 words — just coming up on the dark night of the soul. This is the part that kills me. I’ve been working on this book for so long that I’m just so, so over it. And since I just want to be done already, being this close to the end sometimes feels like torture.

I’m still in awe that I get to write novels as my freaking job. But it turns out that writing isn’t its own reward for me.

I need a carrot if I’m going to finish writing this thing. Rewards, in fact, drive my daily writing habit.

How Rewards Work

If you’ve ever been a kid whose teacher drew a little smiley face on a homework paper or who received an allowance for a job well done on your chore list — you’re familiar with rewards.

A reward is simply a small prize for doing your job.

Should you do your homework and make your bed, even without the reward? Well, yeah. Sure. But are you more likely to do regularly it if your teacher pats you on the head or you mom gives you a dollar?

Yep.

We can use small rewards to habituate ourselves to meeting small goals regularly. And small goals met regularly? Well, that’s how we build a writing career.

Here are Some Ideas for Writing Rewards

Money

Get a Mason jar. Throw in a quarter every day that you reach your tiny goal. You’ll have $91.25 at the end of a year. That’s enough for a really nice dinner or a good trip to the book store.

Make it a dollar and you’ll have $365 — enough for a weekend somewhere. (If you’re anything like me, preferably somewhere warm and beachy.)

Gifts

Bribe yourself with something lovely.

Here’s one of my tricks. When I’ve done my toughest writing job of the day, I reward myself with some time browsing Thredup. I’m a thrift store junkie and Thredup is like a giant thrift store, online. I favorite things, add some of them to my cart.

I do that all week and if I hit my weekly goal? I buy some of those things.

I like to buy books, too. I know I should use the library. It’s free. But I like to own books. So, sometimes my gift to myself for reaching a goal is books — often used, on Amazon.

Time

I often reward myself with time. I have eight younger brothers and sisters, three kids, and parents-in-law who both have Alzheimers and live with me. That translates to time by myself is a really good reward.

Sometimes all that means is that if I finish my writing today, I’ll give myself the time to tune out work and binge watch some show on Netflix. Or go to the movies. Or read.

Sometimes, it means a vacation. It just depends on what’s going on and my circumstances.

A Streak

A streak of days meeting my goals is my number one reward. I use a tool I call a FRED to track my tiniest goal — writing for 10 minutes a day. I don’t want to break my streak, so I show up. Every day. Even on my worst, busiest, craziest days, I can write for ten minutes.

This reward is just a silly little star sticker. But it works like magic for me.

Think Outside the Box

Those are the things that motivate me. Spend some time today thinking about the things that motivate you. What you’re looking for, frankly, is the minimum viable reward.

The smallest thing that will inspire you to meet your smallest goal.

Big rewards are great. I mean, I’d love to reward myself with a trip somewhere fabulous or a shopping spree if I finish writing this book that’s giving me fits. But the truth is, big rewards like that aren’t likely to actually motivate me.

Because I know I’m not going to travel to California just because I showed up and did my job. And because I need immediate rewards, not one that will come months from now.

A quarter, a dollar, a star sticker, a couple hours of Netflix time — those things, coming on the heels of actually doing the work today, work.

Think outside the box and come up with a couple of rewards that will work for you.

Create your own daily writing habit.

Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She is an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, two dementia patients, a good friend, Alfred the cat, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the author of Viral Nation, Rebel Nation, The Astonishing Maybe, and Center of Gravity. She is the original Ninja Writer.