The Power of Reinforcing Success with Planned Rewards

Planned rewards and letting your ninja pick themselves up!
The power of reinforcing success with Planned Rewards
Later in this blog series we will be diving into our system for setting and achieving goals, a system designed to help young people in a very practical way, but before we do it’s important we understand an important factor in each goals success.
Reinforcing the success of completing a goal or achieving a desired outcome will build a relationship in a young person’s mind between hard work and positivity.
By planning rewards in advance we have the additional motivation to push through difficult times. The additional motivation will go a long way in improving a young persons perseverance. When choosing an appropriate reward it’s important it’s proportionate to the size or difficulty of the goal or challenge. The goal here is to improve the relationship between hard work and a “prize”. If the reward is the same regardless of the goal then there is no correlation between the amount of work put in and the result which will have a damaging effect on this process. Students will begin to realise they will “win” regardless of their output. This is not to say a participation medal or award is not warranted in many competitions, that can be a fantastic confidence builder in reinforcing the courage of competing. However there must be a hierarchy in awards given so the higher achievers have a fairly represented award/reward.
Why you should “Step Back” and Let your ninja pick themselves up
As a young person, your student or your child goes through difficult challenges and tasks and often they seem mentally drained or physically exhausted, it’s important we do not come to the rescue each and every time. The goal set initially should (if an appropriate system was put in place) have been within their grasp and not have caused them significant distress.
The young person should have the ability after a period of hardship to overcome the obstacles that have made the goal or challenge difficult and the result will be a more confident and independent child.
Of course, seeing your child or your student struggling isn’t’ easy, but it’s important to keep in mind that without failures and hardships we cannot develop their character and it’s the lessons learnt in difficult times that will help them out of far more difficult situations as adults.
So, don’t always feel that you need to pick them up, help set appropriate goals and let them pick themselves up. Be the driving force for motivation, the support net for security and their biggest fan when they achieve!
Onto the next blog where we will be jumping into the 8 step Warrior Method for Goal Setting! You will love it!#025: Challenge