Gold Star Jar

A couple friends and I started keeping gold star jars.  The idea is to put a gold star into the jar whenever we do something that we're really proud of.  Once we're out of stars (181 to be exact), we get to celebrate with a girls' day...doing whatever we dang well please.

It's known in dog training that if you provide the canine friend with a treat after they do something good they will likely affiliate that action with something good (rather than the annoying task that it once was).  We should definitely do more of this with ourselves :)  I would love to reward myself with a cookie...but there is a lot of research showing that doing this will create a very unhealthy relationship with food...and I need all the help I can get in that area.  If you want to feel good and successful then you will likely end up eating a cookie, rather than completing the rewarding task.

SOOOO...my answer was the gold star jar.  Each time that we put a star in the jar we write the date on it and why we are including it.  After doing this for a couple of months, I have found that my dear friends only have a few stars in their jars...I personally think they're too hard on themselves.  If I was in charge of their jars they would have hundreds in there already!  I think I am going to change the plan for the jars, from here on out we are going to have 3 stars per day for 3 months.  This will force my friends to include their 3 most proud moments from each day in their jars....buahahahaha!  Maybe this will start to open their eyes to the way that I see them...really freaking amazing women who inspire me to be a better person and continue pushing myself every day.