As a side note, I was especially pleased by my motivation to work after I hung this by my work computer, which was better than expected—very little gets me to stop procrastinating. I found it particularly useful to think of myself as “paying off” things I had gotten instead of adding money. This felt a little like a deadline. It was also fun to think of myself as “working on” a particular thing, like a book I had recently purchased. I suppose one could do this in advance, but I am more motivated by things physically present than motential things. This also helped segment the work. I could “work off” one thing at a time, instead of having to dread full time work as a whole. Also, making money had a bigger effect than spending less compared to my guesses, so this also cheered me up when working.
As a side note, I was especially pleased by my motivation to work after I hung this by my work computer, which was better than expected—very little gets me to stop procrastinating. I found it particularly useful to think of myself as “paying off” things I had gotten instead of adding money. This felt a little like a deadline. It was also fun to think of myself as “working on” a particular thing, like a book I had recently purchased. I suppose one could do this in advance, but I am more motivated by things physically present than motential things. This also helped segment the work. I could “work off” one thing at a time, instead of having to dread full time work as a whole. Also, making money had a bigger effect than spending less compared to my guesses, so this also cheered me up when working.