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Rewards Punishments

Rewards don’t work for everyone, especially those who don’t use rewards that truly motivate them (or those that treat themselves to the reward no matter what).

In that case, you may find that punishments work.

Here’s how to use this tip to increase your productivity…

First, decide on an amount of money that would be truly painful for you to lose right now. Whatever that number is, add 10% to it.

Example: If $1000 would feel like a hardship for you, then tack on another $100 to make it a total of $1100.

Next, give that amount of money to a trusted friend along with a written agreement that outlines how and when you’ll get the money back. You can do this in one of two ways:

1. Set up milestones. When you meet each milestone, you get a portion of the money back.

Example: You might set up four milestones where you get 25% of your money back. Alternatively, you might set up a series of milestones where you get 10% of the money back for the initial steps and 50% back when you complete the final step.

2. Get it back only when your overall goal is complete. Here you don’t get the payments as you complete milestones. Instead, you only get it back at the completion of your stated goal.

Tip: Getting all the money back at once or getting the majority of the money back at the end works best for most people. That’s because it’s more painful to lose most or all of the money as opposed to just a small portion of your money.

Also, you may give something else up that’s important to you. For example, do you have a particular possession that you’re especially fond of, such as a classic car or some other antique or collectible? If so, you may consider giving that to a friend in lieu of cash.

Tags: Time Management

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