Reward yourself now, not later
People stick with goals longer when the work feels rewarding right now, not just someday. In a 2016 paper, Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach found that how much people enjoyed working on their New Year's resolutions predicted whether they were still sticking with them months later, while how important they thought the goal was didn't. Long-term rewards help you start. Immediate rewards help you keep going.
Here's what most of us do. We pick a goal with a big, far-off payoff. More clients by December. A healthier body by summer. A business that runs without us by next year. Then we make the day-to-day part as miserable as possible. Cold calls we hate. Workouts we dread. Twelve-hour days.
And people wonder why they are quitting by March.
What the research found
Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach studied what keeps people going on their goals. In one study, they asked people about their New Year's resolutions. How important was the goal? How much did they enjoy working on it right now?
A couple of months later, they checked back. Enjoyment predicted who was still sticking with it. Importance didn't. They found similar patterns in other experiments. When people picked versions of a task they actually enjoyed, or had something pleasant while doing it, they kept at it longer.
We tell ourselves the long-term payoff will carry us. It usually doesn't. What carries us is whether the work feels at least a little bit good today.
When we set goals, we're thinking about the end result. That's what gets us excited. But the end result is months away. Your brain lives in today. If today feels like punishment, your brain will find a way out of it, no matter how important the goal is.
How to make follow-through feel good now
Pick the version you'll actually enjoy. If you hate cold calls but love coffee chats, build your sales plan around coffee chats.
Add something you love to the task. Your favorite playlist during bookkeeping. Your fancy coffee during the weekly review. That's the idea behind making the boring task fun on purpose.
Celebrate small wins right away. Not when the whole goal is done. Today. Check it off, tell someone, take a minute to feel good about it. There's a reason small wins matter more than big ones.
Make the environment nicer. Work from the coffee shop you love on outreach days. Light the candle. It sounds silly. It works.
Notice what you enjoy about the work itself. Talking to people, solving problems, making something. Point your attention there.
What it looks like
Many of my clients hate marketing.
I had one who read that she "should" be posting long LinkedIn articles, and she dreaded every single one. When I asked what she actually enjoyed, she lit up talking about recording short voice notes for clients. So we tried short videos instead. She kept the same messaging, just in a different format.
She's been posting consistently for six months. She told me last week that it's the first time she has ever looked forward to her marketing tasks.
The bottom line
Your big goal is why you start. Enjoying the work is why you keep going. Make today feel a little better, and future you will thank you.
If you want someone helping you build a plan you'll actually stick with, here's how I coach.
Frequently asked questions
Do immediate rewards increase motivation?
Research by Woolley and Fishbach (2016) found that enjoying an activity in the moment predicted how long people stuck with their goals better than how important they thought the goal was.
Why do I give up on goals even when they're important to me?
Importance helps you start, but long-term payoffs are far away. If the day-to-day work feels unpleasant, it's hard to keep going.
How can I make working on my goals more enjoyable?
Choose versions of the task you like, pair it with something you enjoy, celebrate small wins right away, and make your work environment more pleasant.
Sources: Woolley, K., & Fishbach, A. (2016). For the fun of it: Harnessing immediate rewards to increase persistence in long-term goals. Journal of Consumer Research, 42(6), 952–966.
