I’ve mentioned before in this series that I am lazy and undisciplined. Hence, I have to bribe myself frequently to get things done. This is a method that for whatever reason I only recently discovered. I think it’s because I used to tell myself I should write because I *love* it, damn it! And I need to force myself to write through the slog and out to the other side!
And it was painful!
I’m not going to lie — some days, it *is* still painful! But now that I know how to structure my rewards, it’s not so bad and I get a surprising about of writing done even on days when I really don’t feel like it.
First, a caveat: there are some days when no amount of cajoling or stern self-talk is going to work, and that’s okay. Some days are for crawling back under the covers, or for recharging your brain in other ways.
But on days when you’re pretty sure you’re just being lazy, this might work for you!
Go back to your schedule, and see if there are places that you can reward yourself with things you like to do or have on a macro and micro level. For me, when I’m trying to sprint for word count, I’ll let myself get a piece of chocolate or play a game for 5 minutes if I complete a 15 minute sprint. I also make a pact with myself that I’ll let myself watch The Haunting of Bly Manor if I get 1000 words done. Just one episode per every 1000 words, though.
I haven’t structured weekly rewards yet, but they might be things like, ordering pizza from our favorite pizza place on Friday if I managed to get my word count every day; or letting myself join an online happy hour with friends, or play a game online.
Today, take your fifteen minutes to brainstorm easy little things you can reward yourself with, that will motivate you, and also think of a few tentpole rewards during the month. Obviously at the end of the month you should plan something really nice for yourself so you can celebrate!
<3