Reward Your Activity

IF we can bring forward the reward we will gain by completing our much-delayed task, we will stop delaying.

The idea here is to bundle an immediate reward we can enjoy right now – so satisfying our urges and impulses – with the behaviour we need for a long-term benefit.

Maybe, using our financial example, we treat ourselves to a favourite take-away as soon as we get the tax return completed – immediate (and tasty) reward for getting the necessary paperwork done that not only avoids a punishment – a fine – but can bring us a future reward of a tax refund.

The rule is to link something you love doing with something you are avoiding doing. So maybe I do indulge in a secret delight of reality television – but only while catching up on the laundry at the same time, for example.

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