Give Yourself a Tip

For the last month or so I’ve been having trouble getting motivated. I was doing well for a few a while. I managed to write twenty-four thousand words into a new story, brainstorming new ideas, and starting to get exciting about writing again. Then a month-long bout of illness hit my household, just one right after the other, and since then I’ve been feeling like I can’t quite get my feet underneath me. I want to get back to working on my goals again, but being so far behind already, it's hard to get the motivation to start grinding again. Even simple stuff like making dinner or cleaning the house can feel insurmountable somedays.

I’ve talked multiple times before about how I’m not good at giving myself rewards. I never seem to be able to find anything that can motivate me. I just don’t have a lot of things I want. Especially not little things. Earning books has worked okay for me, I can always use more books, but anything else has failed to be appealing enough to motivate me. And now that I have a toddler, my options for 'gifting' myself things are even fewer. I don’t have the time to get a manicure or pedicure, or take a workout class anymore, even if I was interested in doing something like that.

I decided to try something different this month. Since Covid,  everywhere now seems to be asking for tips. Everyone wants a little something extra when they do a good job. Why not me? 

I set up a new system where I get a dollar every time I go above and beyond in my own life. Or at least above and beyond what I have been doing. If I can get to bed on time and get a good night sleep, instead of staying up late into the night scrolling social media, one dollar. Make a good healthy meal for my family, one dollar. Organize an activity to keep my toddler happy and give me a break, one dollar. Anything else I want to encourage myself to do constantly, I give myself a tip when I accomplish it.

I take all these little tips and put them in a special bank account. The start of a savings account to do something really fun. Right now, I’ve unofficially earmarked this money for taking my son to Disney World in a few years, but we’ll see how quickly it grows, and if we’ll have enough funds for that when the time comes. 

You might notice none of these activities are directly related to helping me meet my goals, but indirectly they have been very helpful to get me back on track. Now that I’m getting better sleep and eating better, I have more mental bandwidth to start thinking about writing again. Now that I’m feeling better about where I am, and what progress I am making, I’m more able to conquer that massive cleaning projects on my plate or dealing with another terrible night of illness.

So if you’re struggling to complete what you need to do, think about giving yourself a tip for taking those critical first steps towards your goals. It's amazing what a little encouragement can do for your state of mind. And you can also be saving to some special future fun at the same time.

What would you give yourself a tip for doing? Is there anything you can think of that would be worth encouraging with a nice fat tip?