Are rewards useful to build a habit

Building habits is tough when they are imposed top-down. If I want to go to the gym, my reason needs to impose it to my will. It is so easy to fall through the cracks. It is raining, it is cold, I am tired, etc. However, going to the Gym does offer rewards in mental and physical health, etc. Therefore if we would focus on those rewards, we could lower the barrier to forming a new habit.

The biggest question is what reward can overcome the inertia of simply not doing things. Going to work is a habit. Making breakfast every morning. Therefore, it may be a matter of identifying the hidden rewards in the habits we want to form and fail to. I wanted to write more. Not sure about what. I found out that making it in public gives me a reward that motivates me to push new words out every week.

See also Successful habits through smoothly ratcheting targets