What Would You Do for a Klondike Bar?

"Be good and you can have a cookie."

"If you can be quiet for half an hour, I'll give you a candy bar."

"If you come to the bank with me, you will get a lollipop."

Gummy bear studying incentives.

Food incentives are everywhere from the day we are born onward. Once we've become adults, it becomes an easy way to reward ourselves for completing tasks we did not want to do. I've seen study tips online that include leaving a gummy bear on each paragraph on the page. Once you've read that
paragraph, you can eat the gummy bear.

This has been a huge issue for me. I'm sure its contributed to my weight problems (though it's certainly not the only factor). Our evolutionary mapping encourages it, too. We crave McDonald's even though we know it's not good for us because our hunter-gatherer instincts tell us we may not have access to food later, so its best to stock up on calorie rich foods now our bodies can burn later. But this is no longer the reality in modern society. Unfortunately, it takes more than a lifetime to de-program thousands of years of evolutionary advancement.

So how do we control this urge to reward with food?

As you might've guessed, we replace the reward. This isn't easy. Our bodies will -- and thus our hormones and reacting chemicals, which will in turn change our moods -- prefer a food-based reward. So we have to find things we want more. Or, convince ourselves there are things we want more and commit to those things.

What might these things be?

A vacation. A new piece of clothing. A shopping spree. A CD (or mp3 download). A piece of art.
Maybe the thing you need to accomplish isn't a big thing, though. And you can't justify a vacation just because you read a paragraph in your textbook. So instead, you put a dollar in a jar for every page you read. The money adds up and pays for or supplements your vacation costs. You may be tempted to put money in the jar because you can. What's stopping you from just throwing a few bucks in at the end of the day when you empty out your pockets before putting your pants in the laundry basket? Well, nothing. Just you. You can rely on your guilt to keep you in line for that one.
If you're someone (like myself) who can't necessarily monetary rewards to yourself, promise yourself something else. A trip to the library (for every ten minutes you spend reading your textbook, you get five minutes at the library -- write these down on slips of paper and put them in the jar, take out as many five minute slips as you want when you go to the library and only stay for that long). A trip to the park (same principles). A trip to the magical land of the internet. You can trade time for time in pretty much anything. If you like to draw, then promise yourself ten minutes of drawing time for every ten minutes you spend  doing the task that needs to be completed.

Maybe the cute dress reward
works for you.

This is especially important for people who want to reward themselves for working out or losing weight. It's counterproductive to reward yourself with cake. A lot of people like to promise themselves new running shoes or that dress they've always wanted but could never find their size in. These are okay for some people, but personally, I like to separate my rewards from what I'm doing.
That is, I don't like them to be related in anyway. I find it doesn't motivate me as much. If you're like me, brainstorm for other things. Half an hour of biking may equal twenty minutes of  time in the library.

And there's no reason you can't match your time rather than doing fractions of it. Whatever suits your schedule and works for your motivation mindset is what works. There's no right way to do it.
Whether you're trying to finish a chapter for your psychology class, lose fifty pounds, finish writing your NaNoWriMo novel, or clean the kitchen, find a reward that is meaningful to you. Find a reward that isn't food, because food only lasts for so long. The gratification is instant but it doesn't linger. So the next time you're trying to do something that you don't want to do, don't ask yourself "What would you do for a Klondike Bar?" Ask yourself, "What would you do to get a dollar closer to your dream vacation in Italy?"

Gummy bear image courtesy of APSU.
Dress image courtesy of ModCloth.