There was the time when rewards were for children and stickers on a star chart but now rewards have crept into the adult world.
Tescos, Sainsburys and Boots all reward me for shopping with them. If I buy an offer online I am sometimes rewarded with a bonus. If I pay my car insurance in one lump, I am rewarded with a discount.
But do rewards still work? I was recently at an event where the speaker offered rewards to action takers in his sales pitch. People got up and ran to the sales desk, so clearly rewards do have some power.
Ultimately getting a reward is getting something in exchange for you doing something. For example, someone near my house has lost a Springer Spaniel, called Poppy. If I find their dog I get the reward. It’s a simple exchange. But Tesco and Sainsburys have a much smarter tactic.
They get you to give first, then they reward you but to redeem your reward you must give more. Therapy works more like the Sainsburys theory. The client has to make the first move and contact the coach or the therapist. They are given techniques to help them help themselves which they can benefit from but they must pay for these. We have NLP and Hypnotherapy practitioners throughout Hertfordshire and North London who can help you achieve the changes you wish to make in your life.
Sometimes the payment is about the cold hard cash, sometimes it’s about what they need to invest emotionally or let go of mentally but the reward doesn’t end there. The impact of the client starting to be who they want to be or stopping doing whatever caused them a problem before knocks on to other areas of their lives in useful positive ways. The rewards continue and so must the investment. The client must continue to invest their positive thinking and energy into their new skills or else the rewards will stop.
Sometimes the rewards may not seem big enough, fast enough or vast enough and the client may stop investing. It’s important therefore to understand what rewards the client wants, when they want them and if they are realistically achievable. Writing this down can be likened to the terms and conditions that comes with your shopping rewards. A good NLP therapist or Hypnotherapy coach will work with you in Hertfordshire or our North London therapy rooms to help you create these.
Sometimes however it’s useful to feel comfortable with not being rewarded straight away. To do things just because that is what you have to do. Sometimes people struggle with this because they are so used to getting a rapid, intense reward. Those who are overweight enjoy the benefits of rapid, intense reward when they overfill themselves with food that was unhealthy and un-needed. To have to stop that behaviour and exercise might even imply a degree and period of pain to achieve. The reward in changing this behaviour for the long-term gain, however, is far greater than the short-term gain of chocolate cake. It might mean living a few years longer and having a fitter, freer life. Missing out on instant rewards can sometimes mean that the long term pay-off is far greater. It can also be useful to adjust to doing things without any rewards at all. Doing things just because. Usually, these are the things that you end up being rewarded for the most. An NLP practitioner or hypnotherapist in Hertfordshire or North London will help you to lose weight and stick to your diet.
A client recently told me that he knows he is a nice man because he once helped a couple with a young baby whose car had broken down. He let them stay the night at his house and he never heard from them ever again. There was no reward. Only the internal one of knowing that it made him a jolly nice chap.
Sometimes the biggest rewards you can get are the ones that you are least expecting.
By Gemma Bailey
www.hypnotherapyandnlp.co.uk
