How can you make this feel instantly rewarding?
Unlock the power of immediate satisfaction to build better habits.
When you struggle to change a habit or build a new one, ask yourself:
🤔 How can I make this feel instantly rewarding?
We tend to repeat habits that feel rewarding right away and avoid those that don’t. Our minds evolved to favor the present because noticing quick rewards and threats kept our early human ancestors alive. Many beneficial habits we want to build, like exercising, meditating, or saving money, don’t deliver a burst of pleasure right away. Their rewards come later. The unhelpful habits we want to dismantle, like endlessly scrolling on our phones or reaching for a bag of chips, reward us instantly, making them hard to resist despite their long-term downsides. Recognizing this gap between immediate and delayed rewards is the first step toward changing habits successfully.
Here’s how to close that gap. Because immediate rewards drive repetition, building better habits means making those habits feel satisfying right away. A simple way is to reward ourselves immediately after completing a habit, even with something small like a brief moment of relaxation or marking it off a habit tracker. Variable rewards that surprise us can be even more effective. For example, we might treat ourselves to a surprise piece of dark chocolate randomly after a workout or listen to a shuffled playlist while doing a chore. To dismantle unhelpful habits, remove or delay their instant rewards, or replace them with more helpful actions that feel good in the short term.
Executing a habit that is instantly rewarding is like playing a slot machine that lights up, rings, and surprises us with a win now and then.
If a habit can’t be made satisfying on its own, immediate negative consequences can keep us on track. We could try a habit contract, a simple promise with ourselves that comes with a penalty we feel right away if we break it, like paying a small fine or taking on an unpleasant chore. Pair this with an accountability partner who will notice if we skip, and suddenly the habit carries social weight in the moment. These strategies make the cost of slipping up immediate instead of leaving it off in the future. A habit is most likely to last when doing it feels good, or skipping it feels costly, right now.
Habits stick when rewards or consequences hit right away. So keep asking yourself:
🤔 How can I make this feel instantly rewarding?
