Wife Like Me

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I love incentive charts! I’ve got a huge one like this on my wall tracking my progress on my goals that I got at the store for less than $2.

Yes, I have a couple of mini-charts for the kids (it’s helping Degen with his potty-training), but I primarily use incentive charts for me! I bought a pack of about 1500 tiny stickers for myself last year and give myself a sticker each time I achieve a goal. My vertical axis is a list of my goals, and the horizontal axis is a list of dates. Every day that I work out, I give myself a sticker. Every day that I read my scriptures, I get a sticker. Every day when I put away a load of freshly folded laundry, I put a sticker on my chart. You get the picture.

There’s something magical about a visual representation of my accomplishments, however small. When I see a bunch of little stickers on the chart, I feel like I’m headed in the right direction a little bit at a time. Somehow I feel motivated to do the dishes, and it doesn’t make me feel so bad to think about how there will be more to do again almost as soon as I finish because at least I have something (a little sticker) to show for it.

I keep my chart on a wall by my bed and check it for ideas of things to do regularly throughout the day. When we lived in a house, I kept it in the family room where I could check it while I was playing with the kids or watching TV or feeling lost or overwhelmed. It’s a great antidote for those moments when I can’t remember why I do what I do, or even what it is I do, really.

I mostly use the chart for goals I work on daily, and sometimes weekly goals, too. I make the goals simple and measurable so that I can’t waffle or loophole myself out of a feeling of accomplishment. It’s not just a to-do list–each goal is there for a specific reason that’s linked to my vision of how I want to be. That makes charting my progress meaningful and motivating.