Self-Motivation via a Reward System

September 27th, 2007 by Matt Huggins

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I’ve had problems with seeing projects through to completion in the past. Whenever I have an idea, I tend to work on it for awhile, but I gradually lose interest or hit a road block that causes me to focus on other things in life despite my progression.

I don’t want the same thing to happen with my current efforts I’m putting forth on a Facebook application that I think has strong potential. That’s why I decided to come up with a way of motivating myself and seeing this project through.

Halo 3

I’ve been drooling over the concept of Halo 3 ever since its initial speculations and first official announcement years ago. However, I don’t have an Xbox 360 on which to play it. Tonight I purchased both the system and the game, and I made a deal with myself. I won’t allow myself to open either until my Facebook application is complete.

Unfortunately, simply giving myself the goal of completing the application in order to play Halo 3 has one major flaw. It means I could potentially half-ass my programming efforts due to my excitement to play the game, resulting in a poor product that doesn’t generate the kind of money it otherwise has the potential to make. For this reason, I’m imposing a second requirement before I’ll allow myself to open my new system and game: I have to earn at least $150 per week with my application.

By imposing the requirement of earning $150/week before allowing myself to play Halo 3, I’m forcing myself to make a strong effort in my project such that it will have the ability to earn that much money. I will have to see my application through to public release, ensure that I market it well (both internal and external to Facebook), and find parties that are interested in advertising relevant content within the application.

Lastly, I must sell my current Xbox (the first generation system) for a price higher than what Electronics Boutique offers (i.e. more than $20) to partially cover the expense of the new system. Additionally, I will be organizing my existing Xbox games to see what doesn’t play on the Xbox 360 to sell along with the old system.

I expect this to provide a great deal of motivation, and I hope to reveal the new application by Monday at the latest. Wish me luck — looking forward to seeing you all on Xbox Live! ;)

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4 Responses to “Self-Motivation via a Reward System”

  1. Joey Says:

    Now that is out of the box thinking. I once played weekly with a friend with Madden, we drafted our own teams created players the whole nine yards. His wife had the idea of making t-shirts that said “when my husband fantasizes” on the front and “its just Xbox” on the back.

    Good Luck.

  2. M. Pielocik Says:

    Might I recommend:

    http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

    Whatever you do, don’t buy X-Men Legends II: Rise Of Apocalypse thinking it will play on Xbox 360. Because it won’t, Matt. It just won’t.

  3. Marc Eilbeck Says:

    I often have the same problem, and always find it hard to motivate myself even with incentives.

  4. Bush Mackel Says:

    Hey Matt,

    I know exactly what you’re talking about in regards to sometimes being distracted to the point that you don’t finish certain projects. I don’t know how much of a gamer you are, but if I imposed the same thing on myself when Halo 3 came out last Tuesday, I’m sure I could’ve BASICALLY finished up every last project I had on the back burner. Ha ha ha.

    So what I’m trying to say is good luck. BTW, I don’t really know too much about Facebook, but I’m curious as to how you can make money making apps for it. Is there a marketplace there where you can buy and sell things you make? Anyway, great post and good luck!

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