How to Use Rewards to Boost Productivity

Hello, my lovelies!

I hope all of you are having a productive November! It’s six days into NaNoWriMo for those of you who are participating and I hope it’s been a great six days.

Today I want to talk about how I learned to use a reward system to boost my productivity when I write. I discovered it the first year I did NaNoWriMo so it seemed fitting to share it with you today.

What is a Rewards System?

Simply put it’s exactly what it sounds like. You set a word goal and then you reward yourself when you reach it. If you don’t reach that goal you don’t get the reward. Usually you pick something you really want because otherwise there won’t really be an incentive to reach the goal.

The first year I did NaNoWriMo we had bunches and bunches of peanut butter cups left over from Halloween. I am my mother’s daughter and by that I mean that I love peanut butter. And when you pair it with chocolate it’s a match made in heaven.

But I was also trying to be healthier so I decided that for every 5,000 words I wrote I could have peanut butter cups. In between I wasn’t allowed to have sugary snacks of any kind. So what ended up happening was I would push myself to reach the goal so that I could earn my peanut butter cups. There were usually two days in between each time I earned my reward and the sugar cravings made me write all the faster.

How Often Do I Use Them?

As often as you want. I don’t have a set reward for reaching my daily word count except for a basic “the sooner I reach my goal, the sooner I can be done and do something else.” Sometimes that something else is reading a book or watching something or making a new playlist. But very rarely do I set a reward for my daily goal.

I would recommend picking a word count you’ll reach every two or three days and setting a smaller reward for that (like me and the peanut butter cups).  This could be something like catching up on episodes of your favorite show or a certain snack or a long soak in the tub. Something simple and sweet to make you want to write faster. Unless you have tons of money to throw around, don’t make this something costly. And don’t make it anything harmful or that you aren’t supposed to be doing.

Then you can also set rewards for larger goals that do cost money. I plan to buy myself a NaNoWriMo mug if I win this year, which I’m pretty excited about. You can also use things like a book you’re considering buying, a pastry from a special bakery, or tickets to see a new movie. Or find other things that won’t cost you anything. Rewards aren’t about how much they cost, but about pushing you to write more.

Find something you really, really want and tell yourself you can have it when you reach your final word count (for those doing NaNo that would be 50,000 words).

Set a Schedule:

It’s really easy to keep yourself on track with this if you aren’t firm about it. Set your word goal and be strict about it. Don’t say “If I write 2-5 thousand words I get a reward” or “I still deserve a reward even though I didn’t reach my goal.”

There’s really no point in using a rewards system unless you’re going to stick with it. If you’re bad at sticking with it, find a close friend who is willing to hold you accountable.

What Counts Toward My Word Count?

Especially if you aren’t doing NaNo and you’re the kind of person who works on your stories even on days when you don’t write it’s easy to ask what counts toward your word count. Does an outline count? But does the outline then have to be wordy and complicated so that you can reach the goal? You might work on an outline for an hour or more but only get a couple hundred words.

Don’t ever pad your word count for the sake of padding your word count. That’s just going to bring you trouble in the end and is never a good idea.

A good rule of thumb for determine what should count toward your goal would be to set rewards for a certain number of tasks completed rather than words written- if you want to get some outlining done, research something in particular, and write the next chapter sometime in the next three days set that as your goal for your next reward. Get those tasks done in the next three days and you get the reward. Don’t get them done in that allotted time and you don’t get the reward.

The Downside:

There is one downside to all this and I think it’s important to mention. Using a rewards system can easily become an excuse to fall into unhealthy habits.

If you aren’t supposed to be eating certain foods or you aren’t supposed to be spending money on certain things, don’t use this as an excuse to do this. The best way to use this system is to pair it alongside another habit (if you’re trying to limit your sugar intake, having to earn your intake and setting a goal you’ll only meet every two or three days is a good way to do this) or to use things that are harmless or you would already get (last year a friend and I agreed to send each other a small snippet of what we were working on for every 5,000 the other person reached).

Rewards also don’t have to be expensive- my friend and I sending each other snippets cost us each nothing but about five seconds of our time.

Again, rewards should never be harmful to you and can be as simple as you want. As long as they make you want to reach your goal, that’s all that matters.

Recap:

Set goals. Reach goals in allotted time. Get reward. Or, set goals. Don’t reach goals in allotted time. Don’t get reward.

It’s as plain and as simple as that.

I hope you found this useful! I was excited to share it with you and look forward to hearing your thought on it.

I’ll be back on Friday for a new review series so I hope to see you then. Until the next time we meet, don’t forget to live happily ever after <3

~Jennifer Sauer, the Ivory Palace Princess

P.S. Let’s Chat! Have you used a rewards system for your writing before? What do you usually use for rewards?