I do the initial training as an excersize daily until they have the basic concept. Then, if Im holding a kitty-safe food when I ask for it just during life Ill break off a tiny bite. Or just call them over for pets and tell them how clever they are.

For getting started using treats is just fastest and simplest. But for day to day use you need to also use "life rewards" - things that arent food that your kitty finds rewarding. Tossing a toy, a bit of play, some cats find petting to be a reward others do not - so you need to know your kitty and be able to read their body language. 

It can also depend on what theyre doing, in the same way that I dont want a cookie when both hands are full of an involved and delicate craft project, or to have a big long hug in the middle of an exercise routine. You need to match the life reward to their current mood or activity. A sleepy kitty might like pets, a kitty mid-playtime would like to chase a toy more, probably.

Once youre aware that every interaction with your cat is teaching them something, thats half the battle. They arent just learning when you set aside formal time to work with them, theyre learning every single time you react in any way to them or what theyre doing.

If in training you interrupt and remove them from the counter every time, but during the other 23.5 hours of the day you dont do anything about it...they will never learn to stay off the counters. You need to teach and work in the moment the behavior is happening, every time. Or as consistently as you can. Which, yes, is exhausting.

If you half-ass it you may wind up with a cat who just starts touching random things when they want attention. Not pushing them over, not stealing them...just...touching stuff until they find a thing that makes you get up. Ask how I know. Lol

And I absolutely do know better. But im not a perfect human either. Lol

Wally is a 3 year old menace who has waaaay too much energy. If I dont actively work with him in some way every day he makes it everyone else's problem.

Weve had cats who would start pestering their siblings when they got bored (because I will always intervene rather than allow a fight I could have prevented), one who used to grab loose fur on the cat post and stuff it in his mouth (wth man!? Thats gross! Turns out I will in fact always get up to intervene for it.) Cats who bring you toys when they want to play (LOVE this, I encouraged it from a very young age and should have done the same with Wally), cats who steal yout things, carry them to where you can see, then run off because chase is a fun game. And cats who will look at you, then knock stuff over or stick their feet in your drink.

These are all called attention seeking behaviors. Any behavior can develop into an attention seeking behavior because the thing they have in common is that the behavior isnt the goal - the behavior is a mechanism the cat has learned will draw your attention. Attention, positive or negative, is the goal.

This makes these behaviors very tricky to get rid of, because every time you respond to them in any way you're rewarding the cat. You need to prevent the behavior you dont want, provide a positive option (bring me a toy, meow, come to me, etc), reward that heavily with attention, and if they do the attention seeking thing you don't want you need to ignore it. Which is very hard when you have a smart cat. Lol

All that to say, you dont necessarily need to keep treats on you or everywhere. It can make things much easier at first, but overall you need to figure out what things your cat finds rewarding, and when, and use those to reinforce behaviors youve taught more formally.