Let’s be honest here. No matter how passionate we are with our business as solopreneurs, we procrastinate. Procrastination hits everyone, including the most productive people.
I’m not in the mood for work right now. Tomorrow will be a better time. I’ll start after I do the laundry or make a phone call. I need more information before I can get started.
Do these sound familiar?
Yesterday, I came across a Facebook meme that made me laugh:
This is a little reminder that it doesn’t matter what excuse we make for not getting things done in business – whether it’s setting up a new website, writing a blog post, or emailing our subscribers. Nothing ever will, unless we do the work!
Read More: Work Alone? Here Are 5 Tips to Hold Yourself Accountable
Play the “Chocolate Milk Challenge” to Get Stuff Done
Ever heard of the Chocolate Milk Challenge? It’s a simple game where you reward yourself with something that you really enjoy after doing a task.
- Step One: Identify a task that has to get done.
- Step Two: Time yourself for 50 minutes (or depending on the time you need) and focus on getting it done. Use an online timer or your phone.
- Step Three: Reward yourself.
I borrowed the idea of this game from Shweta of the Lifehack community. She calls it Chocolate Milk because she rewards herself with a glass of chocolate milk because it brings back childhood memories.
Yours can be anything. It can be a food, drink, a salon makeover, or extra hours of sleep! You decide what works for you but make sure that your reward benefits you.
It goes without saying, you shouldn’t eat an entire chocolate cake after writing that awesome blog post and suffer lower productivity levels because of high blood sugar.
Rewards should boost you, not harm your progress!
Most importantly, that reward should be big enough yet affordable enough to trigger a positive change. Put a price ceiling on it.
Need some ideas for rewards? Here’s a list to get you started:
- Pay a visit to an art gallery
- Meet up with an old friend and have coffee
- Read a good book
- Buy yourself aromatherapy candles
- Treat yourself to a healthy smoothie
- Get a new hair color
- Take a warm, relaxing bath
- Get to bed early
- Buy new workout clothes
- Work on a creative project (gardening, painting, etc.)
Why Does This Game Work?
The reason why this game does the trick (especially in worst-case scenarios) is that you’re more motivated to achieve a specific goal if there’s a prize to look forward to.
After all, congratulating yourself with a treat once in a while elicits happy feelings. Celebrate milestones, no matter how small they are. Doing so helps you see work as a positive experience.
Here are more benefits to rewarding yourself:
- You won’t give up so easily. It’s easy to fall back to old patterns of procrastination when things in your solopreneur business don’t go as planned. And the solution isn’t to give up, but to keep pushing.
- You assess your strengths and weaknesses. As someone who runs a business solo, it’s important to be able to know what you are and are not good at. One way to tell is to accomplish a task to the best of your abilities. If you really can’t (and you don’t get that treat), it’s time to adjust your goals and consider getting help.
Read More: 9 Things You Can Outsource When Running an Online Business
- You won’t feel deprived. If you give more to yourself, you can ask more from yourself. It’s as simple as that. Feeling emotionally deprived despite that hard work can cause you to make poor decisions or act in a way that won’t help you in the long run.
Overall, rewarding yourself sets you up for success. So… What do you think about the Chocolate Milk Challenge? Will you try it? If you liked this post, please share it and spread productivity. 🙂
