Struggeling with motivation when forming a new habit? Reward yourself!

If you find it hard to motivate yourself to keep showing up, repeating your habit goal behavior, then keep on reading. We explain what kind of rewards should be used that give extra motivation and help form the habit. Carl, who wants to become a runner, is our example. This may help you translate concrete ideas to your habit goal.

Forming a new habit is hard

Creating and forming a new habit is difficult and hard work. We have to repeat our desired behavior in the same context over and over again until we act automatically according. You might be interested in also reading How long does it take to form a new habit? or How to stay motivated when forming a new habit gets hard?

Expectations

When we embark on a mission of forming a new habit, commit to the hard work and actually show up and do the work, we expect something in return. A feeling of contenment, accomplishment, happiness, pride? That’s perfectly fine.

Carl wants to become a runner

Let’s imagine Carl, who wants to become a runner. Forming a new habit of exercising is especially hard as the body needs to physically adapt as well (and not “only” our mind).

Carl has done a lot to set himself up to succeed:

he has joined a local running group and participates in the weekly group practice
consulted with the coach to have a beginner’s running plan that gradually increases in order to avoid injury
freed up time in his schedule and added his trainings into his calendar.
regularly meets up with a friend for to run togehter
prepares his running gear and lays out his clothes the night before

Carl is suffering

Now let’s be honest, while there is positive energy to being enthusiastically welcomed by a new running group, Carl was suffering through his first group practice. He was exhausted and the next day was even worse. His body ached. Still, the day after, he put on his shoes again, and set out for another 15min jog. Carl is now at the beginning of week 3 and while he is keeping up with the training plan, he is suffering badly. Is all this pain and mental energy worth it?

Doubts creep in. Carl really wants to feel like a free bird and strong when running through the woods. But in reality, he still feels quite like an elephant stomping around and puffing air out of his lungs.

What could Carl do to be motivated to keep showing up again and again until the positive effects become tangible?

Reward for each repetition

Reward himself for every single repetition, every time he went on a run.

The best reward is intrinsic, meaning it comes with the desired behavior itself. In his case of running, it could be the feeling of strength and power while running. Or it could be the pride of “did it again” right afterwards. This feeling of accomplishment could be even stronger when the weather is nasty.
If these rewarding feelings during running or right after have not yet developed, Carl could reward himself differently. Ideas would be:

The key elements in finding the right reward to bridge the time until the behavior in itself is rewarding enough, is to get that reward during or immediately after acting accoring to your desired behavior. The reward should be attractive to you, does not need to cost anything and should not be availble in any other situation (e.q. use the special body wash only when showering after a run).

Would you like company on your habit forming journey?

While there is no other way to form a new habit than you showing up again and again, we can offer you a helping hand that reminds you to reflect about your progress. Our app will prompt you to think about how you are getting along and offers suggestions on how you could modify your strategy if need be.

During tougher times, it shows up more often. And when the automatism starts to build, it lets you live your life without interruption.

If you wish to dive deeper into the topic, the sources we used to write this post and related scientific research: have a look at the References and Recommended Readings below.

References & Recommended Reading

Gardner, B., & Lally, P. (2013). Does intrinsic motivation strengthen physical activity habit? Modeling relationships between self-determination, past behaviour, and habit strength. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 36(5), 488–497. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-012-9442-0
Wiedemann, A. U., Gardner, B., Knoll, N., & Burkert, S. (2014). Intrinsic rewards, fruit and vegetable consumption, and habit strength: A three-wave study testing the associative-cybernetic model. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 6(1), 119–134. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12020
Wood, W. (2019). Good Habits, Bad Habits (1st Aufl.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.