Monday Motivation :: Regaining Focus Through Rewards

Usually when I do Monday Motivation, I throw down some leverage to hold myself accountable to get through my to-do list. Whenever I put a reward in place for these lists, I seem to let it fall to the wayside. But if I have some consequences in place, I know I’ll get scared by the end of the day and I’ll do whatever it takes to get my stuff done.

While this really works for me, I had an interesting reversal of this scenario happen this weekend. I had been avoiding going through my old statements and spreadsheets to get ready to file my taxes for this year. You would think that with the amount we think we’ll be getting back PLUS these new tax rebates in place, I’d be motivated to plow through and get it accomplished. And you’d think that fears of the IRS coming after me for not filing would scare me to do it.

But it wasn’t – every weekend came and went, and on Monday I was feeling guilty again for not doing my taxes.

So this last weekend, I tried a different approach. Right now, I’ve been using a temporary computer since my old laptop died. I *realllllllllly* want a new laptop. So I made a deal with my hubby and my coach: if I do the taxes, I get the laptop.

You can bet I spent all freaking day on Sunday doing tax prep work. My appointment with H&R Block is tomorrow at 3:30pm.

I have to say I was kind of surprised that I finally got myself to do this thing through a reward rather than consequences. I guess that if you are going to set up a reward system for yourself, it really only works if the rewards are things that are big enough to get you to act. While that might present a bit of a problem for our pocketbooks, I’m excited to try and figure out more ways to motivate myself through rewards.

Rewards sure are less stressful than worrying about giving $250 to Kiva or dying my hair jet black.

Here’s the Monday Motivation drill.

Step 1 – let us know what you are going to get done today (your to-do list, so to speak).

Step 2 – put it in a comment below or a post on your own site.

Step 3 – let us know what will motivate you to get it done – a reward, consequences, or whatever you need to think that will ensure you do what you say you are going to do. I’ve found that the public announcement and accountability is a particularly great motivator, but throw down consequences (or find a kick-butt reward!) if you really need a kick in the pants to get stuff done!

We don’t care how you get it done, we just want to support you in reaching your goals.

Today before I go to sleep I will:

• Clean the kitchen, hallway, & my office – done!
• Bust through the 224 emails in my inbox
• 3 loads of laundry
• Write my outline for focusing on increasing profitability
• Outline color sets for new themes

And by the end of Saturday I will:

• Do everything I need to do on my end to get enrolled in the Forbes and Mom*Logic ad networks with Adify
• Work two more hours on my friend’s blog
• Write a guest post for Liz
• Write up questions to interview Lisa Druxman and Lisa Lam
• Create vision boards with my kids
• Finalize some legal contracts

If I don’t get all this done by the time I said I would, I will give up coffee *and* tea for a week. Now I know I started out chatting it up about rewards, but honestly, I can only afford one $1100+ dollar reward a week, ya know?!

So what are you going to get done today or this week?

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy:

1. Monday Motivation :: Summer Focus in a Bottle
2. Monday Motivation :: Doing Things We Hate
3. Monday Motivation :: Today Only!