From the course: Gretchen Rubin on Creating Great Workplace Habits

Reward yourself for keeping a habit

From the course: Gretchen Rubin on Creating Great Workplace Habits

Reward yourself for keeping a habit

- Now, there's a lot of strategies that you can use to change your habits, but the most fun strategy and a strategy we should all be using all the time is the strategy of treats. Now, the strategy of treats is that we should all load ourselves with healthy treats. And some people think that this sounds selfish or self-indulgent, but actually it's very important. Because when we want to keep ourselves keeping our good habits, and when we want to keep our self-command high, which we really do, you want to have a lot of self-command, both at work and at home, it helps to give ourselves healthy treats. They did research where they gave people a treat in the form of a little gift or having them watch a funny video, and people's self-command rose. We're like cellphones that need to get a charge. And the way to get that charge, the way to make yourself feel energized and comforted is to give yourself a little treat. And you want to give yourself a healthy treat. There are unhealthy treats. We all know them. Usually they are food and drink, shopping, or screen time. They can be healthy treats for some people, but for many people, they become unhealthy treats. But you don't want to do something to make yourself feel better that ends up making you feel worse. You don't want to eat a big plate of brownies thinking that it's going to make you feel better, when as soon as they're done, you're filled with regret. So you want to have a long list of healthy treats. And some adults don't have a good sense of what their treats are. So you want to think about what could be your treat. I mean, it could be anything from crossword puzzles, going for a bike ride, I know a guy who would go to camping stores. He doesn't even really like camping, he just likes camping stores. He likes the stuff, so he'd go to camping stores. Looking at travel brochures, looking at art books, spending time with your cat or your dog. It can be small things, but it's whatever makes you feel like you're getting that charge, that you're plugging into that power source, that you're giving yourself that treat that's then going to make it easier to stick to your good habits. Because the fact is, when we give more to ourselves, it's easier to ask more from ourselves. So the strategy of treats is the most fun way to help you keep your good habits.

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