One of the more interesting aspects of Economics that I learned in my masters program was the obvious point that people generally make economic decisions that benefit them the most based on the constraints faced. This concept was the main focus of the best selling Freakonomics book a few years back. In it, the authors examined various behavior and using statistics tried to determine why two seemingly disparate pieces of information were actually related. It seems fairly common sense; after all you would expect people to take actions they perceive are in their best interest. Still, why are we surprised when it happens?

People rarely, if ever, spontaneously do activities for no reward. The reward may be financial or it could be just the sense of self-satisfaction they received from doing good. Therefore, if you want to influence someone’s behavior, you need to set up constraints that properly reward that person for the behavior you desire. During my Market Research class in college, there was a study that determined if you approached a professional, like a doctor or lawyer, with a survey and offered them $10 to take it, you would have a low response rate. On the other hand, if you approached this same group with a survey and offered to donate $10 to the charity of their choice, the response rate was much higher. In essence, $10 was not a lot of money to them, but $10 to charity in their name held much more value.

While this information is great in helping you with other people, I feel it really shines when it comes to influencing your own behavior. A lot of times we can feel bad or like we are “cheating” if we create some kind of reward system for ourselves. Say if we lose 10 pounds we can purchase some new pants. This is actually a powerful motivational tool and should not be discounted.  The promise of a reward, especially a tangible one, can be the difference between continuing on a goal and just stopping.

The important concept in creating these rewards is to make certain that the reward is not opposed to your goals. For instance, you would not want to set up a reward like going out for ice cream if your goal is to lose weight. Likewise, promising yourself a $100 shopping spree when you are trying to get out of debt also is counterproductive. So the challenge is to find the perfect reward to help you keep your eye on your goal. You know what you want and like so list those things on a piece of paper. Just jot down anything you think of, even if it seems far-fetched. Once you have done that, prune the list down until you find the reward or rewards that you like the best.

Once you select your reward, determine a logical time frame to accomplish the goal in. If you have no time frame, you will have a difficult time measuring success. You will think that you can always start later, or play catch up down the road. Having a firm deadline, allows you to best plan the way to set out and achieve your goal. A timeline will also indicate the magnitude or frequency of your reward. If you are embarking on something that will take years, then having a big reward at the end may not be enough to keep you motivated. In that case, create milestones with correspondingly lesser rewards along the way. Basically, scatter these across you timeline spaced each time you would lose momentum.

It seems basic and almost childish, but setting fixed rewards for yourself can be an excellent method in meeting your goals. So look at where you are and where you want to be. Figure out what changes need to be made and when you expect to make them. Then finally plot out your rewards for accomplishing the task. You will be surprised at what you can accomplish.