Loyalty Cards Can Teach Us Something About Goals

One of the sneakiest things I do to actually meet my goals and priority items that require consistent action?

Punch my loyalty card before I even begin.

What?!

In a workshop about resetting, we talked about our future priorities and how to set ourselves up well for them. And I talked about loyalty punch cards.

Have you ever gotten one of those loyalty punch cards at a coffee shop?

Ever notice they came with one hole already punched?

That’s not an accident! It’s an intentional, science-backed strategy to get you to keep returning, remain loyal, and hopefully - fill that card up!

A Columbia study found that the illusion of progress toward the goal induces purchase acceleration. Basically, if a customer receives a 12-punch coffee card with 2 “bonus” punches done, they fill that card up faster than a customer who receives a blank 10-punch card.

It makes sense right?

Most of us hate starting something. We procrastinate, we avoid, we get caught up in perfection, etc.

But, what if… hear me out… we’ve already begun?

It’s like when you don’t want to work out but you’re already wearing gym clothes

Or you don’t want to cook tonight, but, you pre-chopped the veggies in your fridge

It’s the strategy deck you have to build, but someone already gave you a skeleton outline to start with

So, think about the tiniest thing that could help “unlock” that goal progression for you in 2026.

For example, if your goal is:

Get healthier - go for a 10-minute brisk walk! You’re already doing it! Health!

Meditate consistently - sit down, open insight timer (maybe look for my girl Leah Gooch!) do a quick meditation!

Find a new role - spend 5 minutes shooting off emails to your weak connections to catch up in the new year - grab the 25 questions to the informal interview guide

Snag that promotion - set a timer for 10 minutes, and go through your calendar from this year, capturing some of your wins - or… check out the sweet spot to get clearer on how to position yourself

Spend time on long-term strategic vision work - there’s no reason we need to wait til next year to do that, we can take 10 minutes on Friday to close it down

Begin a new hobby - we can do that right now! Why wait!

All of these activities help you feel like you’re not hitting the start button next month. Instead, you’re simply continuing the action. And that, is kind of magical.

Speaking of setting, meeting, and kicking ass towards your goals - if this is resonating, you may want to work with me.