by Jill Wright, Financial Confidence Coach
I want to reward myself for all my hard work. How should I reward myself?
I actually haven’t considered rewarding myself for achievements in quite some time until recently. And what triggered the thought about rewarding myself is that I wanted to buy a few pieces of clothing to cover what feels like gaps in my closet. It seems like my closet is somehow incomplete and if I just bought a few key pieces, these key pieces would just tie everything together. But that’s a topic for another day – ha! This particular day I had the thought that I wanted to buy some clothes and it was interesting that my brain thought, I should reward myself.
It was like my brain went through a thought process that might have gone something like this:
I want to go shopping, but she’s never going to agree to that, so let’s find a thought that might be innocent enough that she might actually consider it before she shuts it down. Let’s see, she has been working pretty hard on getting certified and getting her business going. She might need clothes for her new role in her new business, so maybe I can go that route. Nope… that didn’t work. Let’s try the reward thing…. Bingo!!
I want to go shopping, but she’s never going to agree to that, so let’s find a thought that might be innocent enough that she might actually consider it before she shuts it down. Let’s see, she has been working pretty hard on getting certified and getting her business going. She might need clothes for her new role in her new business, so maybe I can go that route. Nope… that didn’t work. Let’s try the reward thing…. Bingo!!
Isn’t that funny?
If what we previously used to reward ourselves no longer fits into our plan to achieve our financial goals, how can we find some way to reward ourselves that does not involve sabotaging our plan? Whether your goal is financial peace or weight loss or a big life change (job, move, relationship, etc.), we want our rewards to be consistent with the goals that we’re trying to achieve and don’t add additional temptation to our path.
How do we shift our mindset? The way to shift our mindset is to reflect on what we value and why we value it. I have always had a tendency to go straight for the reward that gives me the most pleasure, that feels the best, even if it’s temporary (which I don’t even consider honestly, in the moment). For me, that’s usually spending money or yummy, but unhealthy food. Instead, I have started looking at what I value and trying to get and do more of what I value instead of what the world values, instead of what just feels good in the moment. That’s how we shift our mindset. Become conscious of it then be intentional about it.
Now I realize that shifting our mindset often sounds simple but is not often easy. It takes some practice. Next month I’m going to be sharing with you some ways that you can begin to do this. If you don’t want to wait, book a free, no obligation session with me now. Just email me at MoreMoneyCents@gmail.com and find out more about the tools that you can use to shift your mindset and achieve any goal or address any issue in your life.
P.S. I did not go shopping 
😁 – no wallets were harmed in the making of this blog post.
😁 – no wallets were harmed in the making of this blog post.