Doling out the Cookies

Reward and acknowledgment, part 2

Part of a Series of Articles from my upcoming book, TaskMaster™ – see article list below

Before we leave the discussion about acknowledgment, lets talk about how it works.

An acknowledgment, properly executed, carries one message and one message only:  GOOD JOB!

Think about the way we talk to each other.  Think about the subtext of the messages we send when we praise.  Think about the words we use.

•  Not bad!
•  Decent!
•  Almost perfect!
•  Great!  Now try it again with your back straight.

Excuse me?  I don’t know about your inner three-year-old, but mine hears an underlying message that takes away as much as it gives.

What tries to pass for acknowlegment above leaves me with the not-so-subtle feeling that, no matter how hard I try or how much I do, I will never be “perfect enough.”

Now think about your inner dialogue; I’ll bet it’s even worse!

• Well, it was the best I could do with the time I had.
• It’s not spotless, but at least it’s not embarrassing.
• Just think about the job I could have done if I had started earlier.
• Why do I keep waiting until the last minute?
• Don’t stop now.  You don’t have time for a break. There is far too much left to do.

Whew!  Those words aren’t particularly empowering, are they?  They might as well be saying,
“Pretty good for the miserable, insufficient human being that I am — I have to keep my shoulder to the wheel to even begin to approach the underside of adequate.”

NOW think about the words we use in reply to the attempt of another to acknowledge us for something we do well or something they like about us.

How do we respond to compliments on our cooking?

•  Oh, it’s just something I threw together.
•  It needs something.  More garlic maybe?
•  I wish I hadn’t burned the rolls.

What about compliments on our appearance?

•  This old thing?
•  I made it myself.  I couldn’t afford the designer original.
•  My wife picked it out.

And finally, think about the inner comments that often come up in response to the modeling of someone who really knows how to self-acknowledge.

•  Kinda’ stuck on herself, isn’t she?
•  How can he think he looks good when he still has that pot gut?
•  Well, they would have found it a lot sooner if they’d just stopped to ask for directions!

Hmmmmmmm . . .

These comments may be said with a chuckle, yet the come-from brushes aside the attempt to acknowledge, overshadowing the idea that frequent acknowledgment is not only appropriate, but possibly essential to our sense of well being.

Important Distinction: compliment vs. acknowledgment

When we compliment, we are VOTING – an expression of praise or admiration indicating approval, acceptance, or flattery; the opposite of criticising with censure.

When we acknowledge, we are NOTICING OUT LOUD –  an expression of our recognition of a quality, action or accomplishment; the opposite of ignoring, discounting or overlooking

Besides the feeling that there is something wrong with endorsement, our knee-jerk responses often point to a paradigm leading us to embrace the idea that unless we are perfect, we are worthless, undeserving of acknowledgement:  black and white stinkin’ thinkin‘.

Sad, isn’t it?

Let’s rethink the concept

The underlying concept that keeps black and white thinking in place is the idea that things of value are pure examples of absolute consistency.  That’s insane!

“Black” and “white” do not exist in action.  Even machines fail to function consistently all the time.  Go through the yellow pages and you will find pages of people make their living fixing machines that are not functioning correctly.

• We expect to engage in the process of upkeep and repair with things.
• So, WHY do we expect humans to live up to some expectation that there will be consistency of action? (especially sans systems for maintenance.)

If it were possible to always or never do something, I’m sure our lives would run quite smoothly! They would also, however, be universally boring.  There would be no surprises, no chance meetings while lingering in coffee shops, no insights from browsing bookstores aimlessly – nothing to change the steady rhythm of the predictability of the sameness of life: endless grazing on mashed potatoes!

The answer to the question of why is the subject of an entire book in the ADD Lens Series!  For the purposes of the TaskMaster™ series, it will be enough to remember the question and to notice the times we indulge in the habit — to begin to let go of the idea that it is possible to obtain true consistency of action, and to learn to notice and let go of the patterns of thought that leave us judging ourselves deficient when we deviate.

We are going to replace black and white with gray.  And we are going to name the game in a way that gives us a great number of opportunities for reward and acknowledgment.

Balanced Meals and balanced kiddos

Lets go back to the idea of motivation, bribery, your inner three-year-old and that cookie.

Let’s step into the shoes of a kid for a moment.

Have you ever watched a crying child transform before your eyes at the appearance of a cookie – or an ice cream cone, or a cupcake or candy bar?

Does the same thing happen if you try this trick with liver?  Spinach?  Salad?

If you answered yes to those questions, you haven’t spent much time around kids.

Bribery works.  You betcha’.   You might as well be saying, “Stop crying and I will give you this cookie,” every time you offer a bribe to garner cooperation when your inner three-year-old is fed up with bites of anything that smacks of what you have been doing for too long already.

End that sentence with any word that doesn’t scream
TREAT to that kid and the crying will intensify.

“If you take just three bites, then we can have dessert!”
is a lot more likely to elicit cooperation from a fussy eater than its opposite:
“If you don’t take at least three bites of that spinach you can’t have dessert tonight!”

The importance of balanced menus and balanced days

If, however, the only good thing in that kid’s life is a measly cookie at the end of long days of cooperation, eventually s/he will stop being willing to cooperate with you AT ALL anymore.

If you insist upon three bites of liver followed by three bites of spinach, followed by three bites of broccoli or whatever else is odious to that child — with nothing to look forward to but another three bites they won’t like any better — there aren’t enough cookies in the universe to make it worth exposing their taste buds to unrelenting awfulness first!!

You know what they call that phenomenon in the adult world, don’t you?  Procrastination!

Cookie Management

The next article will explore ways to apply the Cookie concept to encourage YOUR
inner three-year-old to work with you – so stay tuned.

As always, if you want notification of new articles in this series – or any new posts on this blog – give your name and email to the nice form on the top of the skinny column to the right.  (You only have to do this once, so if you’ve already asked for notification about a prior series, you’re covered for this one too) STRICT No Spam Policy

Articles in the TaskMaster™ Series

• TaskMaster – Getting things DONE!
• Task Anxiety Awareness
• Virtue is not its own reward
• Doling out the Cookies
• When the Game is Rigged

Coming up in the TaskMaster™ Series:

• Sherlocking Task Anxiety
• Taking Your Functional Temperature
• Juggling Invisible Balls
• Getting Things Done – 101 (part 1)
• Mapping your Universe (Getting Things Done-101, part 2)
• Calendars and To-Do Lists

**Thanks to Christart for the Broccoli graphic (click link for site)

Related articles around the ‘net

• Task and Compliance Management (bettermanagers.com)
• Homeschool Reinforcements, Rewards, and Incentives (thehappyhousewife.com)
• The Black & White Lens: Part 1 (mindsetdoc.wordpress.com)