If your goal is to lose weight, you should not celebrate a couple of dropped kilograms with high—calorie ice cream. And if you are striving to become a millionaire, then do not encourage yourself for the 100 thousand earned by a big waste.

A hearty dinner can negate the benefits of a successful workout, and buying an expensive smartphone can significantly reduce the amount of money saved. But it's not just that.

By rewarding yourself with something that contradicts your goal, you are instilling in yourself a bad habit. As soon as you get tired of working hard, the desire to eat delicious food or buy something will take over. Such motivation simply doesn't work in the long run.

2. Don't replace the goal with a reward

Psychologist and writer Alfie Cohn in his book "Punishment by reward" states A. Kon. Punishment is a reward. What's wrong with school grades, motivation systems, praise and other bribes that thoughts of encouragement distract us. We view the task as an obstacle that prevents us from receiving an award, and do not strive for outstanding results.

Remember: rewards are needed to celebrate success and remind yourself that you can do anything. And the real goal is the same dozen kilograms dropped and a million rubles earned.

3. Cheer yourself up at every step of the way

You probably know what awaits you when you reach a big goal. But it's also important to think about smaller rewards that will delight you every day. Here are some examples of nice little things:

Complete every half hour of work with five minutes of rest.
Read a book or watch a movie in the evening to relax a little.
Buy a houseplant and put it on your desktop. It will remind you that you have recently completed a serious part of the case.
Treat yourself to a useful little thing. For example, it will be more pleasant for you to sit down at the computer again if you have new headphones, or go to the gym wearing new sneakers.
Take a day off at the end of the week and do everything you sacrificed for work on weekdays.

Just do not forget that the reward should be commensurate with the completed task. Leave serious incentives to big goals. For an hour and a half of work, you hardly deserve to watch a two—hour movie, but a coffee break is easy.

4. Do not postpone the promotion for later

Imagine that you taught your dog a difficult command, but gave the bone only a few days later. It is unlikely that you will consolidate the result in this way.

Even a symbolic reward received on time will help you maintain motivation.

5. Remember: being aware of the reward is just as important as getting it

Clinical psychologist Gillian Needleman urges J. Hailes. How to reward yourself and practise self‑kindness be aware of your victories — even very small ones — while receiving rewards. At such moments, tell yourself what kind of work you have done, what skills you used for this and how it brought you closer to a big goal. This is a good exercise to raise self-esteem.

Sometimes we need a voice that will say that we are well done and we have the strength to cope with new challenges. And we can provide such support ourselves.