Jackpot!

I have been talking about this idea in my classes all week, so, if you been on Zoom with me, well, you’ve already had the lesson. Here goes anyway—

When a dog learns a new behavior or skill, the trainer breaks the task into small pieces to master and rewards each incremental stage   with at least fifteen seconds of treats the dog loves. The prolonged, mega-dose of food  impresses upon the dog that what they have done is desirable and encourages them to repeat the behavior. They  call the technique  “jackpotting.”

When Locket was learning how to jump over bars in agility, we started by rewarding her any time she got near the bar. Next, we lured her through the obstacle with the bar on the ground. Little by little, one step at a time, Locket learned how to jump over the bars and to follow increasingly more subtle instructions with more challenging combinations.  Jackpot. 

In our leash reactivity work, which is far less sexy than “bar hopping,” yet  immensely more practical and immediately valuable, every time Locket   “looked at me” when another dog was near, I fed her a huge handful of treats.  Jackpot.

The efficacy of  “look at me” or “Locket, come” and a few treats compared  to pulling, tugging, and/or dragging my  lunging dog away from a trigger is somewhat staggering. Turns out, pulling her away, yelling at her, or getting upset  did nothing to help her make a different choice in the moment or in the future.  In fact, according to our trainer, pulling her away reinforced the undesirable behavior.  (That being said, sometimes, you do just have to get your dog away from a dangerous situation and the dog has to have the established obedience skills outside of the heightened situation, etc. so there are some prerequisites and  I am not talking about anyone being placed at risk here.)

Anyway, the jackpot protocol got me thinking of  yoga practice or any endeavor that  involves moving toward an aim. Whether the aim is enlightenment, establishing a new routine, or tackling an advanced asana, breaking the task into achievable steps is a useful strategy. For instance, each yoga pose is a series of small incremental progressions. Basic poses set the stage for more challenging postures.

And so on. 

That part seems obvious enough.  Call this approach  progressive sequencing strategies, modifications, working at your limit, or what have you, I am talking about a somewhat tried-and-true educational methodology. Have the learning outcome clearly defined, create a realistic step-by-step plan to get there, implement the plan over time. Like I said, nothing too new here. 

Jackpotting goes further than sequencing strategies because the technique invites us to celebrate incremental stages as full, complete, and  worthy of praise in and of themselves, not as consolation prizes or as half-measures. Learning to see small steps toward an overall aim as moments of success just as they are opens the doors to loving myself just as I am and confronts  the insidious, joy-robbing perfectionistic tendencies that cause me to withhold self-love and self-validation (both very tasty treats, by the way)  until everything is perfect, handled, and/or achieved 100%. Suddenly, opportunities for self-acknowledgement live everywhere— in the immediacy of meeting the moment as it is and myself as I am. 

Not to be confused with making excuses, self-indulgence, or false praise, learning to jackpot myself is the process of engaging a transformation of consciousness away from never good enough  and toward the realization of wholeness.  Paradoxically, the capacity to feel whole and complete allows me the courage to look squarely at my shortcomings, the  places that need refining, and the many ways I miss the mark of my own aims.   

Of course, all of these ideas are  easier said than done. After all,  giving a dog a treat is simpler  than offering ourselves compassion  in the midst of a cycle of self-criticism or in a moment of self-betrayal. Sometimes the best we can do  to put the difficulty  behind us is go to bed so we can  wake up another day and try again. After all, there are no magic formulas or guarantees. 

At any rate, wherever we find ourselves on the pathways of our aims, may each of us find small moments to celebrate and discover the process of loving ourselves just a bit more fully to be its own tasty treat.  

Jackpot.

That’s what I have for today. Keep the faith.