Motivation Concept

We all have areas in our lives in which we just have a hard time. These areas are our own individual vices that we struggle with no matter how hard we try to stop. It could be overeating, laziness, frivolous spending, losing your temper, messiness - really anything that makes you feel regret later on, but you still can't deny when the urge strikes. For me, it is a really frustrating feeling and can make me feel really weak. Some people have even said or implied that I am weak, but my guess is those people just don't share that particular vice for which they're ridiculing me. To be completely honest, each item I listed is something I struggle with to some degree or another. You may share some or all of my shortcomings, or yours may be completely different. My hope is that this post will be applicable no matter what your struggle(s).

I found this idea on Pinterest (imagine that) and it's specifically for exercise motivation:

Each time you workout, put a dollar in the jar. When you reach your goal, treat yourself to something.

My immediate reaction was, "what a great idea! That would be so motivating!" However, this was quickly replaced with reality. As a stay-at-home mom - read single-family income as I haven't found someone to pay me for that yet - I realized putting a dollar in a jar, for me at least, wasn't really practical. First of all, I would have to go to the bank and trade in a twenty for ones. And then those 20 $1 bills would sit in one jar while waiting to be put in the achievement jar. That seems rather pointless to me. Secondly, I'm sure that something would come up at some point requiring me to "borrow" against the achievement jar, and Lord knows, once it comes out, it's not likely to go back in. I still really liked the general idea though and so I started thinking about how I could adapt it to make more sense.

About that same time, I was out Christmas shopping and I got a major (and I mean MAJOR) hankering for the Baconater Cheeseburger from Wendy's. (I had actually been hungry for one for a few weeks, but thankfully don't have a Wendy's near where I live. But since my Christmas shopping took me near one, the craving came back and it came back stronger.)  I know, I know, that's certainly not something that should be found on a healthy eating plan, but remember it takes a while to break the addiction and make the cravings go away. While the craving and the voice-of-reason battled it out in my head, I directed my car toward Wendy's. Before I got there though, the voice-of-reason took the lead and I turned around. I hopped on the highway before I could change my mind again and headed home.

An incredible sense of pride flooded me as I drove away from the temptation. I did it! I resisted a really strong craving! I felt like that one, small victory should be celebrated somehow (I can probably thank my dad for this who is a big Celebration fan). That's when the idea hit me - why not record my victories and put those in a jar? Each time I felt I made the right decision even though the temptation was really strong - write that down on a piece of paper, watch my achievements grow instead of money I probably didn't have anyway? I think this could be a really empowering approach by encouraging me to take ownership of the good decisions I make instead of always feeling guilty about the bad ones. I could still celebrate when the jar got full by treating myself to some kind of reward. Better yet, I could get my husband or a friend to partner with me on it and they could treat me to something when I reached the goal. And this idea could be used for anything - I can even have separate jars for separate goals (this might be a great visual for where I still need work... I'll be able to see where I'm getting better at making good decisions and where I still need help by comparing how quickly the jars grow in relation to each other).

This idea may not work for everyone, but if you think it would work for you, I encourage you to give it a try. I haven't had much of a chance to test it out so I'll have to get back with you on how it goes for me. For now, I like it. I hope you do too.

***Disclaimer***
Because of my faith, I feel that struggles with temptation, no matter what the temptation is, are very much a spiritual battle and that asking God for help is paramount to success. I Corinthians 10:13 states that in temptation, God will provide the way of escape, but we have the choice to take it or not. This idea is not to replace my need for prayer, but to records the times that I use His way of escape to make the right decision, which will encourage me to do it again next time.