One summer while I was in grad school, I needed to complete a research paper. I wasn’t able to focus on home, so I would walk to campus only to discover I couldn’t focus there either. With the deadline looming, I needed to find a way to get the thing done. So, upon discovering just how delicious Black Forest gummi worms are, I figured out a solution.
I decided to leave a bag of gummi worms in my designated office space. I told myself that if I just walked into the office, I could have two gummi worms. Every time I read an article, I could get two more. Surprisingly this worked for me. I worked on my paper and read so many articles that summer just because I wanted to eat more gummi worms.
When I have told other people about this, they’ve responded that they would have just eaten the whole bag and not done the work. Maybe this wouldn’t work for other people, but it worked for me because it gave me something to look forward to even though I dreaded the task. It was my way of building hope into the situation, instead of forcing discipline.
Essentially, I have worked to build some kind of extrinsic motivation into things I need to get done. (I can write more on the types of motivation in another post.) I just try to make the thing as enjoyable as possible while I’m doing it or a have an enticing payoff that will happen soon. I don’t always use gummi candy. Sometimes, as I just did to get back writing this post, I’ll say something like, “If you get this bit of work done, you can have a popcorn movie night.” And that works because I also really like popcorn.
Will this work for anyone else? I can’t be sure. While using rewards is something that has helped me, I have to admit that it isn’t a 100% success rate for me either. For that reason, it is not the only tactic that I use. I will write more about all of my other tactics in posts to come.
(This post is not sponsored by the way. Although, I wish it were because I really like Black Forest Gummies. Possibly more than any adult should.)
A Wren Says 