One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way

Kaizen Technique
The Perfect Reward
Think hard before deciding on a small reward. You want the reward to have these three qualities:
The reward should be appropriate to the goal.
 For Kare n Pryor, chocolate was a pe rfe ct e ncourage me nt to ge t to class—a
small, harmle ss indulge nce . But for the man told by his doctor to cut back on unhe althful foods, chocolate would be
counte rproductive .
The reward should be appropriate to the person
. If you’re trying to e ncourage anothe r pe rson to achie ve a goal, re me mbe r
that one pe rson’s re ward is anothe r pe rson’s annoyance . For some pe ople , it’s a gre at boost to re ce ive a complime nt
e ve ry time the y take a positive ste p toward the ir goal. Othe rs think that fre que nt complime nts are conde sce nding. For
ce rtain clie nts, e spe cially those who are he sitant to contact me outside of our sche dule d visits, I use phone calls as a
re ward: Eve ry time the y achie ve a small succe ss, the y call me so that I can congratulate the m. Ne e dle ss to say, this
re ward would be me aningle ss for those clie nts who fe e l e ntitle d to call the ir the rapists any time of the day or night!
Finding an appropriate reward for another person can be challenging, so you might want to try this
technique: If the person in question is a friend or partner, ask, “How do you know you are loved?” Ask
him or her to come up with four or five answers if possible. Since most people are not used to answering
this kind of question, allow a few days for mulling it over. At work, you could ask a colleague or
employee an alternative question: “How do you know you are appreciated?” Again, give the person a few
days and ask for several responses. The answers are often small and invariably illuminating.
The reward should be free or inexpensive.