Step 5: The Best Ways to Reward Yourself (Continued)

• Provide frequent opportunities to receive rewards. Our research on substance use treatment indicates that more frequent rewards are associated with higher likelihood of achieving the final goal. Specifically, offering only one opportunity to receive rewards per week may be insufficient to modify behavior, and you should provide at least two opportunities to receive rewards per week. 
• Gradually escalate the “value” of rewards. Our research also indicates that you are more likely to reach the final goal when you escalate the value of rewards. In other words, reward your baby steps with small rewards (e.g., a cookie) and reward your larger progress toward the final goal with large rewards (e.g., dinner at your favorite restaurant). 
• Deliver the reward immediately and every time. Decades of research reveal that, for best performance, give yourself the reward immediately after the desired response. If delayed, other behaviors will occur, some desirable, some undesirable, which then get rewarded. You can gradually fade out the rewards once you hit the next step.  

After reading these best ways to reward yourself, what changes will you be taking to reward yourself effectively?