Rewardist Help
You only need to know a few things to use Rewardist. Below are details about Categories, Tasks, and Rewards.
Categories
Categories are the general areas in your life where you'd like to create new habits and improvements. These might be things like "Health & Fitness", "Relationships & Family", or "Creative Pursuits".
You can have as many categories as you like - to create a new one, just click the "Create New Category" link in the sidebar. You can create any category you like, or use our suggestions.
To edit or delete a category, hold your mouse over it and use the icons that pop up. Remember, though, who you delete a category you delete all the tasks and rewards associated with it - and all your progress in that category.
Each category can have one reward and many tasks associated with it - for more details, keep reading.
Tasks
Tasks are the things you want to improve, new habits you want to form, or accomplishments you want to track. In a category like "Health & Fitness", you might have tasks such as Do Yoga, Lift Weights, or Stay within Calorie Budget.
To record that you've completed a task today, just click on the big number to the right of the task.
You can add a new task anytime by clicking the "Add New Task" link.
There are times when you might want to go back and adjust your progress for a day - you may have forgotten to record something, or just been away from your computer. You can access a calendar showing all your progress by clicking on the arrowhead next to the big number. You can adjust the totals for a particular day by clicking the + and - signs. You can also scan through previous months using the arrowheads on either side of the calendar box.
Editing or deleting tasks is easy - just hold your mouse over the task, and the edit and delete icons will pop up.
When you're creating or editing a task, you must give the task a name and a point value. This point value can be from 0 to 10, and indicates how much this task should count toward your reward. For example, if you're working on tasks related to writing, you might count Write a Page for 1 point, Send a Query Letter as 4 points, and Sell a Magazine Article as 10 points. You can even set a task to count for 0 points for things you want to track but don't feel warrant a reward (like, say, taking your vitamins).
Rewards
Finally - here's where the fun is!
How do you want to reward yourself for the good things you've done? It's up to you! Rewardist has many cool rewards to suggest, but you are always free to define your own rewards and how many tasks you need to complete to reach them. You might wish to tie the number of points for a particular reward to a dollar amount (especially if your tasks are financial in nature), or it might make more sense to tie it to the number of times you complete a task (such as buying a new guitar to reward yourself for 100 hours of practice). It's always up to you.
Editing or deleting a reward is easy - just hold your mouse over the reward pane, and the edit and delete icons will pop up. If you delete a reward, you don't lose any of your completed tasks or points - these are still save with the category, so that you can define a new reward without losing your progress.
When you're creating or editing a reward, you must provide a Name for it, and say how many Points you want it to cost. In addition, you can also link to a web page about your reward (e.g., an Amazon product page) and an image for your reward. Rewardist strongly recommends adding images - seeing your goal can be a powerful motivation! All of our suggested rewards come with links and images ready to go - no extra form fields to fill in!
When you've earned enough points, the button below your reward changes, letting you know that it's time to enjoy the fruits of your good work! Click the "Award Now!" button to record your victory, and go out and get your reward!
Coming soon: Rewardist is currently working on a Trophy Room where you can view the rewards you've earned.