Reach Your Goals - Give Yourself A Gold Star
Give yourself a gold star Remember how rewarding it was in grade school to get back an assignment with a gold star sticker or some other tangible acknowledgement of a job well done? Well you can apply the same psychological boost to your goal-based activities today! Sure, you could go about this in the literal sense, adding a sticker or some other item that makes you smile, such as a rubber stamp, to your daybook, calendar or goal-tracking sheet as a way to reinforce your successes. But why not get creative and offer yourself a more fitting reward? After all, you're a grown up now and your rewards should reflect this. Ideas include: Treat yourself to your favorite pastry or specialty coffee that you resist indulging in regularly. Get a shirt or hat custom embroidered or screen printed (it's actually fairly inexpensive to do this) that reflects your successes. For example, your hat may sport a self-created logo for your goal, to be worn while actively engaged in goal-achievement activities. Or a shirt may have a message like "Ask me about my success!" to encourage others to help you pat yourself on the back. Give yourself a motivational award. Businesses do this all the time with "Employee of the Month" mugs and recognition pins, certificates, gift pen sets, etc. These items are available fairly inexpensively at motivation gift stores and websites. Even better, present it to yourself at a fancy dinner (in or out) complete with a short acceptance speech thanking all the "little people" (your friends and family who are dining with you) that made it all possible. Want more fun? Do this for every major milestone on the way to your success! Purchase some brightly colored window paint markers (available at any auto-parts store or department) and paint inspiring or congratulatory slogans, such as "Oh yeah, who's your daddy!" or "I'm number 1!" on the windows of your home and or vehicle, where you will see them often. Bonus points for painting it big enough to read from across the street - on the big picture window out front! Buy a face painting or temporary tattoo kit (henna works also) and tattoo yourself with congratulatory or inspirational messages. Better yet, become your biggest fan and paint your whole face up, sports-fan style, in your favorite colors - and root for the home team (that's you) all day long. Decorate a special dessert (cake, dessert pizza, big cookie, etc) in a congratulatory or inspirational theme with icing, sprinkles, etc. Set your creation in front of your plate to admire all through dinner. Create a boosting, "rah-rah" set of email messages (or just one that repeats) and load them into an auto-responder mailing program. There are many available on the web, and some are free (their ads appear in your email). "Opt in" to this self-created newsletter of support and at pre-determined intervals, you'll find these little "fun-sized candy bars for the soul" in your inbox.
(c) Soni Pitts ABOUT THE AUTHOR Soni Pitts is the Chief Visionary Butt-Kicker of SoniPitts.Com. She specializes in helping others reclaim "soul proprietorship" in their lives and to begin living the life their Creator always intended for them. She is the author of the free e-book "50 Ways To Reach Your Goals" and over 100 self-help and inspirational articles, as well as other products and resources designed to facilitate this process of personal growth and spiritual development. |
Other Articles
White Sun (A Simple Man) This is a common and good story to illustrate a simple man with a simple heart:"Once upon a time in north of China, there was a simple old man who had a very beautiful horse which he loved with all his heart. It was a very powerful horse, very swift and useful horse. One day his horse ran away and all his neighbors came to console him. Th ...What Christmas Means To God Several years ago I found a poem that basically puts all this Christmas celebrating into perspective. I would like to share it with you now.What if this year at Christmas... I set Santa to the side... forgo Frosty on the video and rest Rudolph from his ride. Perhaps then I'd forget those things and listen in the night for the clapping sou ...10 Steps to a Magazine Query IntroductionThere are two ways to submit to magazine editors.One is to send the finished article without it being requested. This is referred to as an unsolicited manuscript. Most editors dislike reading lengthy manuscripts, and many magazines specify that they do not accept unsolicited manuscripts which, when received, are consign ...Remember Within Remember when you were really young? It was an era of inconsequential innocence. Even at this age, your imagination was larger than large. Seemingly effortlessly, you concocted boldacious thoughts and dreams. You could pretty much imagine and then do anything you set out to do.Remember?You had big dreams; and even bigger expect ...In My Father's Garage In my father’s garage, he built me many things. What stands out the most, is the help and advice he gave my brothers and I. Especially when it came to building soap box derby racers. He was real good at that. He always built our racers with little help--if any, from us.The soap box derby officials made it clear. Their rule book stated, “a ...To Love is to Forgive I'm convinced that our mental and physical health depends on our attitude toward others and how we treat them. Included in this is forgiveness. In fact, if I could choose the one gift from God that I personally need to have and to give, it would be the gift of forgiveness both for others and for myself (by the way, have you forgiven yourself, de ...3 Must-Read Books for Bloggers A lot of bloggers read blogs, but there are also some very valuable books out there on blogging. The three books that I recommend for bloggers are Blog! by David Kline and Dan Burstein, The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil, and Naked Conversations by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble.1. Blog!: How the newest ...Best April Fool 2006 For any of you that are interested ~ this may very well be my "Fairwell" e-mail! It's my blog which is my, well, goodby letter ~ of sorts ~ to my sister, Rita :) If I've never told any of you before, I really do love you. I'm exhausted now. This MS is a killer! Need to take a nap now... Maybe, I'll feel better when I wake up? ~Hugs~ Your buddy, ...Difference Makers - REST! The other day I was preparing for two different workshops at the same time. As I rushed up the stairs from my office I fell. That’s right I fell up the stairs not down.As I looked at the dust in the corner I came to two conclusions. 1. I needed to vacuum. 2. I was over tired and need REST.Sometimes we as DIFFERENCE MAKERS need to ...The TOP 5 Things That Keep You From Success Everyone wants to be rich. A lot of people want to be successful. Yet, only a few people are willing to pay the price. There is a price to success as there is a price to failure. Here are 5 reasons that keep people from accomplishing their dreams.A lack of motivation. Success comes from loving what you do. Is your current job your passion ...The Greatest is Love And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love ( 1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV).Faith: Without it, there would be no Christianity, or any other religion in the world for that matter. We talk of coming to faith in Christ, living a life of faith, and often laud those in Scripture and in modern times who are known ...Here is The Inspirational Wisdom From The Masters Have you always wanted to do invent something, create something, improve the lives of other people, write a book, meet the partner of your dreams, and make more money. Here is some inspiration for you then.These are some of my favorite quotations I've found over the years. There are thousands of quotations and you can find them in your l ...Pastor Carlos Sarmiento, Living Waters Church The greatest divine visitation I have experienced thus far in my life came to me while attending A.R.K. in January, 1990. It was a youth service at Orlando Christian Center led by Pastor Carlos Sarmiento. A.R.K. stood for army of the radical kingdom. Radical indeed was this youth group, but most radical was its fiery leader. P.C. as many affecti ...Expressions Of Faith Did you know that each and every one of us has their own unique way of expressing their faith in God? Some of us verbalize it and some of us express our faith through our actions. Most of us do both. But how often have you written down an expression of your faith and shared your prose with family and friends? I encourage you to do so. It could m ...What Does it Take to Make Life Better? What does it take for you to pay attention?You’ve probably heard this said, or said it yourself sometime, “I just realised how precious life is.” Maybe you heard it when a relative died or maybe you said it after an accident or some other emotional event, but did you stop to consider the grander meaning to what you say…What if ever ...Worthy Workmen Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:14).In my work at a Christian mission organization, I see the process that people go through when raising support for the purpose of going to the mission field. For some, it seems to come easily. For others, it’s an uphill battle. ...Hitting a Home Run "Hitting a Home Run"The purpose of life is to discover True Love; The secret is to discover the Present Moment.~Simon HeighwayaOften the attempt to develop mindfulness can be discouraging. The excellent idea above can seem like being told that the way to become a successful baseball player is to hit a home run when y ...Screensavers - Now Get Energized With Inspirational Text Till now, screensavers have been a tool to enjoy watching scenes. A good screensaver was supposed to have great photographs or animations and good to look at. Not many had thought that screensavers could be used to inspire with text that can re-energize anyone. They are getting made now.When you watch such screensavers, you will see beaut ...Falling On Hard Times! I think one of American's greatest fears is to be homeless...and, it has always been one of my fears as well. And, in recent years...being homeless has happened to me...TWICE!My down slide, started back in the 1990's, with SIX job layoffs over a decade or so! And, all my job losses, were for legitimate reasons, such as companies closing ...Everyday is a Gift, Open and Enjoy It There is a bottle of perfume sitting on my dresser that I was given when I was ten years old! As you can tell I have pack rat tendencies! For me that pattern started as a young child. I could never bear to throw things away. There was more to it than not wanting to throw things away. I loved the feeling I had when I would receive something new, ...How Would You Ever Know for Sure? An incident at a grocery store the other day got me thinking about a philosophical question I had never before considered. I had gotten in a line that had recently closed and had begun to unload my groceries onto the checkout counter. Before I put very many of them down, the clerk alerted me to the fact that this line was closed and pointed to a ...Room for All Kinds I was frustrated, not for the first time, by a particular person. Someone who does things very differently than me--in my opinion, too slowly, or without enough regard for reality. This person was unconcerned, in my mind, about what was important, and focused only on the negative. I did not want to deal with the person or the situation, but circ ...We Are All Talented In Our Way I learn a lot by watching animals. They have tales to tell and lessons to teach for any who have the openness to listen, watch, and learn. Here are some of my latest observations and musings that I hope will demonstrate what I mean.We have three roosters, each with a different personality and a different voice. Stew often sings at 4:00 ...The Three Step Plan To Prosperity You have $100 in your bank account, your rent is past due, your creditors are calling, your business is dwindling and to top it all off, someone sideswiped your car and now it won’t start.And some self-help guru out there is telling you to look beyond appearances and KNOW that you have unlimited riches available to you RIGHT NOW.Su ...
|