March 28, 2003

its own reward

Markers? Check.
Poster Board? Check.
Gold Stars? Check.

Am v. well on my way to new source of motivation and sense of accomplishment.

The Rewards Chart.

Have regressed to days of Kindergarten bliss in effort to progress to post-adolescent contentment. Have been perfecting system of goals and rewards.

Every bag of M&Ms ignored as they call from their happy shelves in the convenience store: 1 gold star.

Every email from J that remains unanswered: 1 gold star

Every pound closer to losing the big ten: 1 gold star

Gold stars will eventually merit things like shopping trips, new DVDs and the like. Eventually, will have poster full of gleaming gilded stars, a yoga tummy and a stunning collection of fine cinematic entertainment. And if that does not work, am simply going to give up.

Because am really missing those M&Ms.

Posted by This Fish at March 28, 2003 09:49 AM
Comments

I applaud your efforts, and think you probably deserve a gold star for coming up with the gold star system. But have you thought about coming up with different colored stars for different levels of accomplishment? Like, is ignoring m&ms really in the same class as losing a whole pound? I'm not so sure. Maybe you need bronze and silver stars too, for the smaller, but still important, steps.

just a thought, and keep up the good work.

Posted by: mark at March 28, 2003 10:07 AM

Hmm..reward system you say? I wonder if gold stars and dvds will inspire me to stop buying B&J's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream? Maybe gold stars and days off from work would do the trick. Do you think my boss will go along with this plan? :)

Posted by: Me at March 28, 2003 10:50 AM

Those M&M's should really learn to speak only when spoken to!

Though M&M's are an addiction that can lead to ice cream, chocolate cake, and the like – cold turkey is a sorry substitute. Trading a star for the occasional indulgence in a handful of the coated-chocolate goodies might ease the cravings for more.

Or whatever. You go, girl!

Posted by: Texas T-bone at March 28, 2003 11:02 AM

I would perhaps suggest adding a gold star for setting up outlook to automagically trash emails from J, so that one doesn't even know that said emails are arriving.

Posted by: Frankenstein at March 28, 2003 11:30 AM

Do we share the same affection for B&J Peanut Butter Ice Cream? The one with the scrumptious peanut butter-ish core down the middle of that all too small container?

And also another thought....what if the M&M's were an ingredient in another product? Such as cookies or a McFlurry for &1.89 from the oh-I-so need-to-give-this-habit-where's-my-gold-star-McDonalds????

Posted by: Sweet Jezebel at March 28, 2003 01:40 PM

Good luck Fishy. Cool system. I used to give my friend gold stars in high school all the time for being good. She has so many now.

Posted by: Indigo Steve at March 28, 2003 02:43 PM

Good for you, Fish! I need to institute the same system, but with beer. A gold star for each beverage I don't consume. That would probably do more for my pesky 10 extra pounds than anything. I'm entirely too fond of Corona and Dos Equis.

Posted by: windowsill wendy at March 28, 2003 02:45 PM

Yeah....BUT DID YOU GO TO THE GYM TODAY??? I DIDN'T SEE THAT IN YOUR BLOG MISS THANG!

Uh huh. That's right.

I thought so.

P.S. Fish gave me permission to blast her if she didn't go to the gym...as she didn't seem to go as of yet today I did so...it's totally from love.

NOW GET YOUR ASS TO THE GYM! :)

Posted by: Brian, the 646 Guy at March 28, 2003 03:43 PM

I went!! I went!! I ran. And I did yoga this morning!!

Posted by: Fish at March 28, 2003 03:58 PM

The Fish is the master. Master Fish, we bow down. Please make us some cookies.

Posted by: Michael at March 28, 2003 06:09 PM

the reward chart: the ONLY method that succeeded in getting me to pay my bills ontime and in full a few years back. knowing i am not as disciplined as i was then, and a hell of a lot more broke, i am too ashamed to even try the system again.
i still give myself a big ol' gold star for effort.

Posted by: sassylittlepunkin at March 28, 2003 09:34 PM

you should email me soon and we can catch up :) i love you

Posted by: sas at March 29, 2003 11:55 PM

Just started reading your site and it's great!

Good luck collecting gold stars for not responding to J's emails. Why are boys so hard to get over sometimes? Why do they stay in our thoughts for so long after we've made up our minds?

Sigh.

Posted by: Jennifer at March 30, 2003 07:07 PM

Can't you just dole out a few luscious M&Ms per diem and, like, savor them, instead of eating a lot of them at once?

Actually, no one can. Never mind.

Posted by: Jodi at March 31, 2003 05:13 PM

P.S. Love the pink. Haven't been here for a while, but I'm diggin' the digs.

Posted by: Jodi at March 31, 2003 05:13 PM