The Power of Positive Reinforcement by TM Hunter

The Power of Positive Reinforcement
by T. M. Hunter

Anyone who follows my blog or has seen my various articles on the web would know that I’m a big proponent of setting goals as a means to get jump-started on your writing and to keep it flowing. There are those who see goal-setting as bringing far too much structure into what is considered a creative endeavor.  I see it differently, and have a feeling there are many would-be writers out there who struggle with getting words out on the page just as I have in the past. They feel disappointed in themselves for being unable to accomplish what they want to get done, and these negative feelings feed upon themselves, which only propagates the issue farther. Six or twelve months later, you’re still looking to get your first draft finished or maybe even  the first page of your novel.

In my own situation, thus was born the goal-setting life, and I have a feeling it will help any other struggling writer out there.

Of course, I’ve written other articles on setting goals, including tips on how to set them, but one thing to remember is that writing is primarily a mental activity. As such, it’s important that we should not only set our writing goals but we should give ourselves rewards when we complete them. Now this isn’t to say a person should set themselves up on a Caribbean cruise when they finish the first draft of their novel (although if anyone wants to buy me one for when I finish my third Aston novel, I won’t object). But as always, with anything there should be rules, and so your rewards for completing your goals should adhere to the following three guidelines:

1. Your reward should be something you don’t already receive on a regular basis

I’ve seen many people steer away from this precept when they reward themselves. In fact, while sitting down to write this article, a writer friend of mine told me to turn off Twitter until I finished. Although I did as he instructed, returning to Twitter won’t in fact be my reward, because ultimately (though I hope it will encourage me to finish) I’ll receive that ‘reward’ eventually whether I complete my task or not. The same goes for those who go out to dinner after they finish the first draft of a story or novel. Unless you never go out to dinner otherwise (which would be rare in this day and age), that isn’t really considered a true reward because you receive it other times when you aren’t accomplishing your goals.

Be inventive. What is something you never (or almost never) get to do? Set that up as your reward, and then bask in the glory of being able to do it when you’re finished.

2. Your reward should fit the goal that you completed

I mentioned before that a person shouldn’t set themselves up on a Caribbean cruise when they complete the first draft. Again, it seems fairly obvious, but the opposite can also be true. What if you finished the final draft of your latest novel and sent it off to your first batch of agents? That’s something that doesn’t happen all too often, so it deserves a larger reward than say, finishing your word count goal for the month. You wouldn’t want to go out to a fancy dinner alone (although maybe you never get to go out to dinner). The intensity of the reward is what’s important for tasks that are monumental, and usually rare, because it’s all about forming a habit. Finishing a short story, on the other hand, might just end up with a reward of a special ice cream treat (assuming you don’t go out for these all the time), since it’s something that can be accomplished fairly quickly and easily for most.

And of course, when you begin completing the same goal (a word count goal for the month, for example) over and over, it’s time to set your goal higher in order to receive the same reward. One  might ask why they couldn’t just scale back the reward, but the mind will begin having no incentive to reach the goal any longer, and the habit will begin to fade.

And of course, maybe you can book your (and my) Caribbean cruise once you sell the movie rights to your novel.

3. Your reward should be something positive

Yet one more obvious statement (it’s beginning to  form a trend), but one would be surprised how many people will use a negative consequence to spur them to complete a goal (such as removing yourself from  personal contact with friends and family until you’re finished with a story). Although punishing oneself until a task is completed may actually get the task at hand accomplished, the mind seeks to have positive sensations when forming and maintaining habits (which is why it’s so hard for addicts to quit). If your task was accomplished through negativity, your mind won’t form a lasting habit. Although it may serve as a start, and momentum will carry you for a while, ultimately the old habits (not accomplishing your goals) will return. So, make sure you earnestly seek out a positive reward and your habits will both form and last.

So there you have it, three solid guidelines for setting up rewards to go along with your writing goals. I hope they prove as useful for you as they have for me. Have a great time, everyone, and enjoy those rewards along the way.

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T. M. Hunter has always had a fascination with interstellar travel, earning a B. S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas. Twice a top ten finisher in the P&E Readers Poll for his short stories (2007, 2009), his book HEROES DIE YOUNG earned Champagne Books’ Best-Selling Book of 2008 award. FRIENDS IN DEED is his latest novel. For more information, including links to his published short stories and novels, please visit AstonWest.com. You can also find T. M. Hunter on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace as well.