Confession time.

I can absolutely be motivated by star stickers.

I recently came across Alexa Donne’s video about the Star Sticker Method and I sorta kicked myself for not thinking of it before. I don’t know about you, but there is just something about getting those gold stars that gives me a buzz. 

That being said, I decided I really wanted to try a new method of motivation during National Novel Writing Month to see if that gives me any extra juice in my tank. I also want to see what kind of progress I could make under the star sticker method, given my post on accountability last week. 

The Star Sticker Method

Alexa Donne says she stole the idea from VE Schwab, but I honestly think they both plagiarized it from every Kindergarten teacher and potty training chart there ever was. 

The star sticker method is simple.

1. Get a calendar. This could be a planner calendar or just a calendar you print off from online.
2. Get a bunch of shiny star stickers, or really any sticker of your choice. The point here is to get a sticker you’re excited about, so I say if you want the scratch n’ sniffs, you get the scratch n’ sniffs.
3. Set a word count value to them. For example, decide you’ll get a sticker for every 100 words, or 1,000 words you write. Pick a number that is motivating and attainable. 
4. Then go write. For every X amount of words you get on each day, give yourself a sticker.

As I go through testing this method for myself, I’ll get a sticker for every 500 words I write, and I’m also going to update once a week on my Instagram during National Novel Writing Month with how I feel things are going with the Start Sticker Method.

What I Hope to Gain

I have a handful of things I would like to get out of this experiment. 

1. I hope to see higher daily word counts. Normally, I try to score 2,000 words per day during National Novel Writing Month, but I want to see how much higher I can get if I have a star sticker on the line. 
2. I hope to experience higher motivation. In Alexa’s video, she mentioned that the star sticker method gave her that motivational push to get 200 more words or 100 more words at the end of a writing session just so she could get the star. I’m hoping this method will spark the same sentiment in me so I have another tool in my tool box for when I’m experiencing low motivation. 
3. I hope to exceed 50,000 words during NaNo this year. It’s not a hard and fast goal, but I would love to see this method propel me through the threshold of 50,000 words when it gets to the end of the month. Historically, I’ve stopped writing after I hit 50,000 words (which usually happens the week before Thanksgiving) and I want to see if this method helps me keep going beyond the mark before the end of the month.

What external motivation system shifts your productivity into high gear? Let me know in the comments below!