Boosting Productivity With a Timer

A funny but I think very effective method to be more productive:

"Nothing focuses the mind like imminent death." That unattributed quote has been shared for years. In fact, I counted at least 30 variations of it in a single Google search that are floating around the Internet. It is, unfortunately, very true.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) says that there are two types of motivations that make humans do everything that we do. Moving-toward motivation and moving-away-from motivation. Anthony Robbins puts it another way. Humans do things to gain something positive or we do them to avoid something negative. It's simple but not simplistic. Unfortunately, more people are motivated by the avoidance of the unpleasant rather than working toward a reward. If you don't believe this, simply look at what happens the day before vacation. Instead of gradually getting into the flow of the day, we hit the ground running. No one can get us out of our mission to tie up all loose ends to make sure we're ready to go the next day. We begin to put those who interrupt us on notice that we have things to get done and we do not have the time to chit-chat. The deadline of the end of the business day approaches ominously and we do all we can to get everything done. It's not the pleasant aspects of the vacation that spurs us on, it is the dread of not getting things done so we can go. It is the most productive day of the year. In the quest to improve our productivity, we can use this to our advantage.

the complete article can be found here: Open Loops