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In the world of computer gaming, all gamers learn that they have to avoid Morlocks, reapers, the Daedra, creepers, and other such figures if they want to move on to the next level of the game or stay in the game. They know the dragon they need to slay or how to avoid it. The term leveling up has even caught on in the business world with articles advocating how to level up your business for growth. When you level up in gaming, you get rewards or points and the feeling that you are progressing in the game, which is the point. To level up means to make progress or move to the next level.
In real life, instead of facing reapers, creepers, and other monsters, you face life challenges, hardships, and a host of negative emotions, which are the things that take many people down or have them get stalled or stuck in life. Building your own personal reward system is one technique to give you the benefits that gamers get — staying engaged, feeling like you are making progress, and enjoying your accomplishments.
A personal reward system — outside of the fact that they are fun, easy, and don't have to break the bank — reinforces the behaviors you are looking to establish. It provides motivation — especially when you have laid out the right rewards — and works as an effective tool for producing results. As a happiness, health, and wellness expert, I want everyone to have multiple tools in their toolbox to use as needed. These articles will help boost your mood and to grow your emotional abilities like a superpower.
A personal reward system, as the name implies, is personal. You establish the rewards based on your interests, your desires, your finances and other circumstances. You can have rewards that do not cost any money. A reward can be anything you can think of as long as it is a reward for you. You set up rewards for yourself for doing what you need or want to do in your life, which could be getting through the day, finishing a project, doing a chore you have been avoiding, or making progress toward a goal you have set. You can reward yourself for anything you want.
Years ago, I made matching dresses for my daughter and me. Then someone remarked that making matching dresses was not a reward but it was a lot of work. To me, since I happen to enjoy sewing and I was enamored with the idea of having matching dresses for my daughter and myself, that reward did not seem like work to me at all. It was fun. It was so much fun that I later made two different sets of matching skirts as a reward for other projects I completed.
The requirements in setting up a reward system are that you have to do some actual thinking in figuring out your rewards that are appropriate for you and that you have to have some level of self-discipline. If you know at the outset that you are weak in the area of self-discipline, then that would be a great place to start. Begin working on improving your own self-discipline, which will help you in so many ways.
What is important in setting up a personal reward system is to create rewards that are within your budget and other constraints — and that they each feel like a reward to you. Once you brainstorm reward options, the next question is how often you will be rewarding yourself or what the work-reward ratio will look like. That is a very personal decision. I recommend that you reward yourself frequently in the beginning as you are building your skills and reinforce the new behaviors you are establishing.
Examples of rewards that have been used by people include going kayaking with a friend, visiting with a friend, spending time doing a hobby or some other activity that you typically don't let yourself do, scheduling 'me' time and taking it, setting up an excursion or outing, going to a movie, or doing something guaranteed to be fun for you, like taking a road trip. Oftentimes the people I work with have things they would like to do yet they don't feel they have the time to do them. With a reward system, you can build in doing things that you normally don't allow yourself to do, but would enjoy.
The computer gaming industry and to some degree the business world have adopted the concept of leveling up because of the recognized benefits of motivation, engagement, and a feeling of making progress. You have personal dragons to slay in the form of hardships, negative emotions, and life challenges on a regular basis. Let's face it, life is hard. All we have to do is look at the statistics on depression, anxiety, addictions and suicide to see that life is hard for too many people. You need every trick in the book to add to your happiness and keep you in the game of life. The next time a negative emotion "creeps" into your mind or you feel like a "reaper" has appeared in your life in the form of some hardship or life challenge, make a plan to deal with it and then reward yourself. That's how you can level up your own life.