From the Community Tool Box: Part M, Chapter 45, Section 5: Promoting Behavior Change by Making It Easier and More Rewarding, on the Community Tool Box Web site at http://ctb.ku.edu/tools/en/sub_section_tools_1870.htm.

Short-Term Individual Benefits

• Improvement in physical appearance and well-being
  
• Improvements specific to the new behavior (e.g., if you stop smoking, your clothes and breath no longer smell of cigarettes)
  
• Pleasure in learning a new skill
  
• Enjoyment of the new behavior (e.g., regular exercise, such as a daily racquetball game or hike in the mountains)
  
• Economic benefits
  
• New friends
  
• Chance to meet powerful or famous people (as an advocate or spokesperson)
  

Short-Term Benefits to Others

• Direct effects of behavior change (e.g., relief from secondhand smoke, benefits to children when adults improve their parenting skills)
  
• Support and/or recognition of issues specific to disenfranchised groups (e.g., welfare recipients, mentally ill or homeless people)

Long-Term Individual Benefits

• Better overall and lifelong health, leading to improved quality of life
  
• More and improved skills, resulting in a broader skill base on which to build
  
• Improved economic status and/or employment and career satisfaction
  
• Better relationships
  
• Increased confidence and self-esteem
  
• Feelings of virtuousness; satisfaction from "doing good"
  

• A better life for children and future generations
  
• A better environment-whether physical, social, or psychological-for everyone
  
• Greater opportunities for others in the long term
  
• A more just world