Trigger Your Way to What You Want

This great article from Liz — one of Ramit Sethi’s students —is about how to make more money in less time and has some terrific tricks to share about triggers.

Did you know that you can Trigger (also the name of Roy Rogers’ trick horse pictured above) your way to what you want? Just establish a trigger to remind yourself of a commitment you’ve made. Liz uses the example of creating a To Do list the night before to trigger her focus first thing the next morning. I schedule appointments with myself to trigger all sorts of things: Tuesday morning sales calls, twice weekly dance class, and weekend rides with my horse.  All of these would easily be overridden (all horse puns intended) by work otherwise.

Triggers can also entice you unproductively.  For example, mornings are my personal best time for focused work, but the stack of yesterday’s mail can trigger me into 30 minutes of browsing catalogs for things I don’t need, want, nor will every buy. Liz suggests eliminating bad triggers, so I recycle mail immediately away from my desk, where I won’t be seduced from higher priorities.
Homework: Think of a behavior you want to change, or a new commitment you want to keep, and establish a trigger. Tell us about it here, and then follow up to let us know how it’s working for you!