Saturday, February 14, 2015

in-cen-tives

Merriam-Webster defines incentive as "something that encourages a person to do something or to work harder, something that incites or has a tendency to incite to determination or action".

Synonyms:
boost, encouragement, goad, impetus, impulse, incitation, incitement, instigation, momentum, motivation, provocation, spur, stimulant, stimulus.
 
Turns out I need some encouragement, incitement, momentum and motivation in my life. Especially when it comes to my efforts to lose weight. So I created my own incentive plan.

It starts with a goal. My goal for now is to lose 30 pounds. In previous weight loss attempts the first 10 pounds is a worthy goal. For my incentive plan I broke it up into the number of pounds lost. It starts with 10 lbs., then for every 5 lbs. after that I receive an incentive envelope.

There are a total of 5 envelopes. My original plan is to hit 10 lbs., maintain the 10 lb. loss for 2 weeks then reward myself with the contents of the envelope. However, as I'm getting close to the first incentive of 10 lbs. and for how hard I've worked, I may forego the two weeks of waiting, we'll see.

What is inside the envelopes you ask? Well, it starts with a note to my future self. It's like a vision statement for how I see myself in my future. I praise myself, I acknowledge the struggles I may be having and I offer myself words of encouragement.

Stimulus and incitement is the goal. Also, inside each envelope is a surprise for me. I involved my daughter in this incentive plan by providing her the envelopes and an amount of cash. Her job was to divvy up the cash anyway she wanted and fill the incentive envelopes with gift cards, cash, notes, whatever she wanted.

I provided her a list of suggestions for the gift cards. Now I have my incentive plan in place. I have the first envelope hanging on a kitchen wall as a constant reminder of my goal.


Baby steps, 10 lbs. to start, then a reward for each 5 lbs. after that. Once I hit my 30 lb. loss I will evaluate if I want to go further.

I'm close to my first envelope, I can hardly wait.



 

4 comments:

Kelly Rix said...

I love this idea!

Aritul said...

Did you reach your goal?

Aritul said...

This is a cool idea.

Unknown said...

what were your prizes in your envelopes?

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