What's your favourite way of giving yourself a treat? Have you ever thought about the impact "treats" can have on your goals? Have you ever wondered whether you might be secretly sabotaging yourself...
Moira is aiming to build her business, so she signs up for regular networking events. However, quite often, she thinks "I've had a really bad week - I don't have enough energy for networking. I'm going to treat myself by going out for a coffee instead!" Once at the coffee shop, and feeling vaguely guilty about missing the event, Moira decides her day's been so stressful that she "needs" some chocolate cake as well (despite the fact that she started a new diet the week before). Moira spends her time at the coffee shop wondering whether she's missed anything important at the networking event.
Maggie is also aiming to build her business, and signs up for the same events. Like Moira, Maggie finds it hard to motivate herself to go especially when she's had a tough week. Maggie's approach is to tell herself "I've had a tough week, so I'll go for just an hour, but make the most of it. Then, I'll treat myself to a visit to the coffee shop." Once at the coffee shop, Maggie feels good she made the effort and is able to resist the chocolate cake (reminding herself that healthy eating will help combat her stress). Maggie spends her time at the coffee shop thinking about where she'd like her business to be 12 months from now.
To what extent do you recognise yourself in either Moira or Maggie? Can you think of ways in which your choices support your goals and ways in which they don't?
In these examples, it's clearly Moira who's sabotaging herself. Maggie may seem like a paragon of virtue, but in fact she's applying some key principles, and so can you...
- Reward yourself rather than console yourself. (Notice how Moira's treat is connected to "a tough week" whereas Maggie's treat is connected to "having networked for an hour despite having had a tough week".)
- Be clear about why you're doing something (e.g. eating healthily because it helps to combat stress)
- Choose long term success over short term relief
- However you decide to treat yourself - enjoy it!
Notice also how, in both cases, there was a knock on effect from the networking event issue to the chocolate cake issue! Few things in life exist in isolation.
That's not to say that chocolate is necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it's good to break out and do something that might be considered "naughty". It's your approach to treats that counts: make them "goal enhancing" rather than "goal sabotaging" and you'll really reap the benefits...
By Helen Ross-Hamilton
helen@theresultsage
www.theresultsagenc
© Helen Ross-Hamilton, All rights reserved
