Dien Rice
March 5, 2008, 06:17 AM
This is a method of motivation I've been trying out myself lately...
My verdict is - it works!
It was a method used by the novelist Anthony Burgess (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Burgess). (His most famous book was "A Clockwork Orange (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange)", which was made into the famous movie of the same name by Stanley Kubrick.)
Anthony Burgess was a very prolific writer. Here's how he did it.
He set himself a goal of writing 1,000 words a day. Once he had written his 1,000 words, he'd relax, and have a martini. The martini was a "reward" for having done his work for the day!
Now, you can use it to motivate yourself to do anything. The main goal is to "reward" yourself along the way. The "reward" doesn't have to be a martini - I "reward" myself with a selection of different small "rewards".
I set up my "to do" list, and try to divide things so that they are of roughly equal "difficulty". (Sometimes I combine easy tasks to make them "worth" 1 reward. Other times, I break down more complex tasks into a series of simpler tasks, where each simpler task is worth 1 "reward".)
Then, I do the tasks. Each time I complete one of them, I "earn" 1 "reward". For me, that gives me the "right" to have a small piece of chocolate, or a half-glass of fizzy soft drink! (Since I'm not drinking any fizzy soft drinks right now, it's a nice reward for me...)
I also have a "cumulative" system... If I do 5 tasks in a day, I "earn" half-a-meal out (since I like eating out!). So, if I do 5 tasks one day, and 5 the next, I "earn" one meal out - or if I do 10 tasks in one day.
This is similar, by the way, to how some businesses motivate their salespeople. They may give their salespeople a base pay, or pay them per sale - but they give them "bonuses" if they hit certain targets. Instead of monetary bonuses, this method uses "rewards"....
Some internet marketers also use a similar system to motivate themselves, but on a larger scale. For example, let's say they're making $500 a week, and they want to make $700 a week. They set it up so that when they hit $700 a week, they allow themselves to buy some kind of "reward" for themselves (e.g. some sort of "gadget" they always wanted, for example). Then, they set the "reward" for the next target (which might be to make $1,000 a week, for example).
How this differs from many other motivational methods is that on the scale of the "carrot" or the "stick" - it's only the "carrot"!
Anyway, try it out, and see how it works for you!
- Dien
P.S. I didn't come up with it myself. I have to admit I discovered it somewhere else... Here's the blog post where I read all about it!
http://www.academicproductivity.com/blog/2008/how-to-complete-your-phd-or-any-large-project-hard-and-soft-deadlines-and-the-martini-method/
My verdict is - it works!
It was a method used by the novelist Anthony Burgess (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Burgess). (His most famous book was "A Clockwork Orange (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange)", which was made into the famous movie of the same name by Stanley Kubrick.)
Anthony Burgess was a very prolific writer. Here's how he did it.
He set himself a goal of writing 1,000 words a day. Once he had written his 1,000 words, he'd relax, and have a martini. The martini was a "reward" for having done his work for the day!
Now, you can use it to motivate yourself to do anything. The main goal is to "reward" yourself along the way. The "reward" doesn't have to be a martini - I "reward" myself with a selection of different small "rewards".
I set up my "to do" list, and try to divide things so that they are of roughly equal "difficulty". (Sometimes I combine easy tasks to make them "worth" 1 reward. Other times, I break down more complex tasks into a series of simpler tasks, where each simpler task is worth 1 "reward".)
Then, I do the tasks. Each time I complete one of them, I "earn" 1 "reward". For me, that gives me the "right" to have a small piece of chocolate, or a half-glass of fizzy soft drink! (Since I'm not drinking any fizzy soft drinks right now, it's a nice reward for me...)
I also have a "cumulative" system... If I do 5 tasks in a day, I "earn" half-a-meal out (since I like eating out!). So, if I do 5 tasks one day, and 5 the next, I "earn" one meal out - or if I do 10 tasks in one day.
This is similar, by the way, to how some businesses motivate their salespeople. They may give their salespeople a base pay, or pay them per sale - but they give them "bonuses" if they hit certain targets. Instead of monetary bonuses, this method uses "rewards"....
Some internet marketers also use a similar system to motivate themselves, but on a larger scale. For example, let's say they're making $500 a week, and they want to make $700 a week. They set it up so that when they hit $700 a week, they allow themselves to buy some kind of "reward" for themselves (e.g. some sort of "gadget" they always wanted, for example). Then, they set the "reward" for the next target (which might be to make $1,000 a week, for example).
How this differs from many other motivational methods is that on the scale of the "carrot" or the "stick" - it's only the "carrot"!
Anyway, try it out, and see how it works for you!
- Dien
P.S. I didn't come up with it myself. I have to admit I discovered it somewhere else... Here's the blog post where I read all about it!
http://www.academicproductivity.com/blog/2008/how-to-complete-your-phd-or-any-large-project-hard-and-soft-deadlines-and-the-martini-method/
