Counting: A motivational technique

Rememeber when you were a kid and your mom or dad said "Jimmy, you have three seconds to stop doing that or you're in big trouble! 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...". More than the threat, the sense of urgency that this gave you might have helped you to stop doing whatever it was that you were doing. But this thinking doesn't only work on kids, I have found, it is also a good trick to motivate ones self. For example, say you're in the shower and you can't bring yourself to turn the water off... it's easy for five or ten minutes to go by and yet still, it's oh so hard. Try counting down from ten or fifteen. It's pretty easy to start the counting process because there is no immediate consequence, but once you get down to about four, you've been sufficiently prepared to endure the water being turned off.

Sometimes I take this further by giving myself a countdown from 10 to wash my hair, from 15 to wash my body, and then from 20 to bask in the warmth before the water goes bye-bye. Now that's an efficient shower!