What you are describing is well known in Neuro Linguistic Programming. I’m not super familiar with the terms (yet) but I THINK this is referred to as “chunking”. “Submodalities” and “anchoring” might also be relevant.
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming
I think LW could do very well to import a lot of knowledge from NLP and try to see what’s valid and what’s not. I’ve noticed that people here are often reinventing the wheel.
PJ Eby, please chime in on this.
I have been using this exact method for a few years. It is absolutely the most reliable method for getting something specific and critical done in an intermediate time frame (say 2 weeks to 3 months), but it’s kind of the nuclear option of willpower and should be used sparingly since 1) it relies on being the nuclear option, if you ever fail then you would lose faith in the method 2) it absolutely sucks, since it’s usually something sucky you decide to do and you have bargained away the usual weaseling out tactics 3) Cthulhu doesn’t like it when you break your promises.