It is often tough to complete a task or achieve a goal. We forget in order to achieve a certain goal you've to achieve many small goals or complete certain small steps. To lose some weight you have to eat a limited and calculated calorie and burn a specific amount of calories. The same goes with gaining weight you have to have a specific amount of calories daily. So in order to achieve a big goal, which is to gain or lose weight you have to first complete a small goal which is to meet the calorie limit.
The problem here is that achieving this small goal doesn't show a quick reflection on your big goal so most people get demotivated at the first step itself. Other people do not even consider this small goal or steps as valid. We all are goal or result-oriented so the best way to stick to something that might take a long time to come true is to break it into small goals or steps. Like the calorie thing, I mentioned above where the real goal is weight gain or weight loss and the small goal is to meet a daily calorie limit.
The problem with growing up playing video games or having parents who reward you when you do something in their favor is that in the life ahead you expect life to give you the same reward when you do something or complete a specific task.
There are two problems with this reward system. One, we expect rewards from everything and tend to drop that doesn't reward in short periods of time and the other is not getting what we expected. When we are result oriented we forget to enjoy the journey.
According to psychology,
A reward is an appetitive stimulus given to a human or some other animal to alter its behavior. Rewards typically serve as reinforcers. A reinforcer is something that, when presented after a behavior, causes the probability of that behavior's occurrence to increase.
When a reward is given, a creature shows a tendency to repeat the same action in order to get that reward once again. They also refuse to do anything that doesn't give the same or higher reward.
The things that drive humans are necessities and rewards.
In our brain, there is only one reward system and the reward is the dopamine release.
Now we have realized what a reward is and the rewards that body gives itself. Any of our addictions is just a race to get more rewards or in other words dopamine. From eating junk foods to spending hours on social media. Now it might seem to be easy to cure addiction but before that let me tell you something. You are not addicted to the thing itself but to the amount of dopamine that your body secretes. It is also necessary to reward yourself because overworking can't do things right.
Everybody wants to be productive. So in order to be productive, you have to keep the distractions away. At the same time rewards are also important. So the question is what you should reward yourself?
I was never addicted to any social media before maybe Facebook when I had more friends and it was fun to text each other or make arguments in groups but not for so long. I never wanted to be addicted to anything for the same reason I never used to stick to anything that would affect the quality of my work. I haven't used TikTok for more than a week. I didn't even have an account TikTok while in India. I was aware of the fact that if I am using TikTok, I will be forced to consume a lot of irrelevant data.
On the other hand, I was using Instagram a lot as it was the main source of my business marketing and sales. That's the time when TikTok was banned in India and reel was introduced on Instagram. I saw a sudden shift in my behavior. I was binge-watching reel after reel spending 3 or 4 hours on the same platform. The problem with the reel is that it shows us a lot more than what we need or what we ask for. I found myself being lazy and working less and less on my business projects and even dropping them.
I know this has become a habit of mine to binge-watch all these reels and on the other hand, I wasn't able to break free from it. I tried to focus back on things that matter but I kept watching reels or using Instagram and it was like a reward for my brain like I work for many hours and here is the gift. So in august 2022, I decided not to use Instagram for a month. Within the first 2 days, I found myself going back to all pending work and doing it.
Here the reward I gave myself was far more dangerous than not doing any of the work because the reward I gave myself was the same thing that once ruined my entire focus. It was the one thing around which I build an addiction. It was the one thing that I wanted to avoid.
Rewards are important but they shouldn't be something that would ruin things just like I mentioned above. When given the right reward it will help your brain and body be more productive. Leisure is important too.
In my case, I try to watch documentaries when I'm bored or tired from my work. It is not that I don't enjoy anything else like fun videos but some documentaries help me to improve the quality of my work.
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