Another spin on this idea is to set up rewards and punishments for completing tasks and for hitting milestones. I once finished a report only because I promised myself I would buy a pair of snakeskin cowboy boots as a reward. I knew I had to do it, but it wasn’t getting done, until I set up a reward for myself. Perhaps you set up a reward for each section you finish (then you need to make sure you wait until you finish, then give yourself the reward). Timing is key, you need to associate the reward with completing the section. If you get the reward before it’s done, or if you deny yourself the reward, then there is no incentive to finish. Conversely, you can set up a punishment for failing to complete a task. If you don’t get the section done, you have to buy lunch for the departmental meeting. Whatever works for you.
What are rewards and punishments you can set for yourself for hitting intermediate goals?
Read round I of this series here ROUTINES
New Series: How to get a stalled project moving again, round II: PAIN & GAIN
Welcome to the second post in the series on getting stalled long-term projects moving again. Last week we talked about establishing a routine. This week we will discuss motivation by making the PAIN and the GAIN of this project explicit.
Also, and this is important enough that I will repeat it in each post: as you try new things to get your project moving, avoid judging your work a success or a failure. Why? Because everything is a success if you learn from it. Instead, think “what did I learn from trying that?” If you learn that you can’t focus in the afternoon, that’s not a failure, that is great learning, now go try a different time of day! If you keep trying to focus in the afternoon, you are not learning, and not getting the results you want, only then have you failed. So, that said, you will either get what you want, or you will learn, and both results are wins!
OK, here we go:
PAIN & GAIN
Sometimes we avoid working on the project because we are afraid of failure, because we feel guilty that we aren’t getting more done, because we feel overwhelmed, because we hate the project, so we don’t do it…and in that moment, not doing it feels great, compared to doing it, but…there are unpleasant consequences for failing to get this project done. Let’s make the consequences explicit and visceral. What will happen if you fail to complete this project? Get fired? Budget cut? Negative performance review? Promotion goes to someone else? Feel like a loser? When you sit down to work, then find your mind wandering to procrastination, remember those consequences, and let it motivate you to get back to work. Similarly, what will you get if the project succeeds? Promotion? Raise? Recognition? Feel like a million bucks? Let that motivate you too. Perhaps you want something in your office to remind you of the pleasant and unpleasant consequences, so you can literally feel the good and the bad.
Another spin on this idea is to set up rewards and punishments for completing tasks and for hitting milestones. I once finished a report only because I promised myself I would buy a pair of snakeskin cowboy boots as a reward. I knew I had to do it, but it wasn’t getting done, until I set up a reward for myself. Perhaps you set up a reward for each section you finish (then you need to make sure you wait until you finish, then give yourself the reward). Timing is key, you need to associate the reward with completing the section. If you get the reward before it’s done, or if you deny yourself the reward, then there is no incentive to finish. Conversely, you can set up a punishment for failing to complete a task. If you don’t get the section done, you have to buy lunch for the departmental meeting. Whatever works for you.
What are rewards and punishments you can set for yourself for hitting intermediate goals?
Read round I of this series here ROUTINES
Another spin on this idea is to set up rewards and punishments for completing tasks and for hitting milestones. I once finished a report only because I promised myself I would buy a pair of snakeskin cowboy boots as a reward. I knew I had to do it, but it wasn’t getting done, until I set up a reward for myself. Perhaps you set up a reward for each section you finish (then you need to make sure you wait until you finish, then give yourself the reward). Timing is key, you need to associate the reward with completing the section. If you get the reward before it’s done, or if you deny yourself the reward, then there is no incentive to finish. Conversely, you can set up a punishment for failing to complete a task. If you don’t get the section done, you have to buy lunch for the departmental meeting. Whatever works for you.
What are rewards and punishments you can set for yourself for hitting intermediate goals?
Read round I of this series here ROUTINES
