Rewards Program 4

Pink Think: “There is nothing man will not attempt when great enterprises hold out the promise of great rewards.” – Titus Livius

Last November, when I took up the insanely wonderful goal of finishing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, when participants write a 50,000-words-or-more novel in 30 days), I gave myself rewards when I met my daily writing goal:

1. “Everything” by Michael Buble
2. a new library book
3. sun chips
4. bike ride
5. sing karaoke
6. tomato juice
7. trip to Hello Kitty store
8. pecan pie
9. new piano music

I remembered that experience a few weeks ago, when, on a hot summer afternoon, my family hiked up to Timpanogos Cave National Monument in American Fork, Utah. It is a steep, 3.5 mile round-trip climb. Every so often, our family stopped to catch our breath in the little shade we could find. Sometimes, we couldn’t even stop, because much of the trail was marked red, which meant there was a hazard of falling rocks, and we weren’t supposed to stop.

Along the way, I began to look forward to signs that measured our progress:

One-fourth. One-half. And finally, we made it to the top, and had a wonderful tour of the cave.

Could we have made it up there without the signs? Probably, but the signs sure motivated us.

Writing a novel is like going on a long hike. I know the goal is worth it (a finished novel, yehey!), but sometimes the process is so arduous and difficult, I feel like giving up. I get so cross-eyed weary that I cannot see past the hard, hard days when I just want to burn everything and start over. I need some rewards, markers along the path to nudge me on and give me the incentive to go on. Not just for the BIG goal, but for smaller goals, even if it is just that I wrote a paragraph that day.

This week, I will put rewards on my calendar to help me keep going on the novel I am working on.

How about you, how do you reward yourself when you reach a goal or part of a goal?

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