Rewards For Business Owners: What's At The Top of Your List?

Have you ever taken a moment and thought about all the rewards you are working towards in your business and your personal life?

Let’s examine this.

I want you to list all the things you desire in your business and your life that require you to attain a certain level of success.  This is something that you believe you have to work hard for.  And once you work hard enough for it - then and only then can you receive it.

What is at the top of that list?

Typically the list is simple:

• Money - Financial Security, Financial Legacy
• Time - Freedom, Choice
• Fulfillment - Happiness/Joy, Respect, Recognition, Impact

These are the rewards almost every business owner out there is looking to achieve as a result of their personal efforts. So they assign milestones to mark the journey - think of it as a finish line.  Once they cross the finish line, they tell themselves - then they have earned the reward.

Yet a funny thing happens as soon as that imaginary finish line comes near.  The business owner often diminishes the effort and the result of getting to the finish line.  In their mind, they will say - “I could have done better,” or “I should have done it differently,” and ultimately, they won’t allow themselves to realize the reward.

Instead, they move the finish line further out in an effort to prove to themselves that their efforts are worthy of reward.

It is why business owners have a habit of diminishing their accomplishments and find it difficult to recognize or celebrate successful moments when they occur. Unknowingly, they are piling disappointment onto themselves and slowly losing their mojo to stay on the journey (P.S. This is where burnout likes to find fuel for its fire.)

What if we treated our desires for financial security, freedom, and impact as an intention in our lives?  An aspect of our lives that we could immediately realize and start to enjoy and that would grow and flourish as we hit those milestones.  

Can you feel the difference between the two scenarios?  One feels heavy, like a burden, and the other feels lighter and more fun to accomplish.

Here’s your success tip for the day - “What is easy gets done.”  When things are hard, they get avoided.  Looking to motivate yourself and your team to succeed? Check out the video article: How To Effectively Motivate Your Team To Achieve Success for more tips.

Changing your mindset from reward-based to intention-based is like flipping an imaginary motivation and enjoyment switch in your brain.

While there’s a tremendous amount of information on the routine of success, sometimes we miss this point of lightening the load and celebrating success.  Yet to do either, you’ve got to start with what does success look like for you. 

Yes, SMART goals are a part of it, but I’m also referring to the small and large signs that will tell you that success is here so that you can revel in and celebrate it.  That’s why we’ve been known to send our clients 30-Second Dance Party buttons.  Similar in size to the ‘easy’ button - these things are annoyingly loud as they play 30 seconds of techno dance music.

And yet, the buttons are commonly found in our client offices' workspaces and public places - and they get used.  They also send us some fun videos so we can celebrate with them, which we love.

What rewards are you keeping from yourself?  How will turning them into intentions change your business?  I think you should give it a try and let me know what starts changing.

As always, we’d love to help.  Let’s chat.