Treat yo self.

I’m in awe of the way life sends you a message and then adds steel reinforcements. I took a class on productivity and I had to really digest the idea of rewarding myself for completing little tasks. I was listing out everything I’d need to do to complete my gardening project, and then she was like, “Now treat yo self!” Literally, she was more like, “now add reasonable rewards beside each task,” but I hot hype and started thinking about the chocolate bar I could enjoy after I dragged myself to the gardening aisle at Target.

The very next morning, I was listening to day 31 of Cory Muscara’s 31-Day Fresh Start: Podcasts  and he was like, you should celebrate your achievement, because only a few people actually finish this series. And I was like, “Whaa?” and Cory – who’s always right on time – told a story about a time where he hadn’t thought to celebrate his achievements and his friend had to get him out to party. In the moments after the podcast, all I could think was, “I need more of that in my life.”

I think celebrations are like what treats are to dogs; they reinforce good behavior. There’s no wonder most of us can’t get excited about completing big projects. We’re usually motivating ourself on some distant, intangible thing like wealth, career success, or enlightenment. What we need are immediate, tangible rewards like chocolate bars and chipotle. The rewards that make us feel warm and fuzzy today and remind us along the way, it was worth it.