Comments on: Stop Using Guilt as a Motivation Tactic

By: Wendy (Give Love Create Happiness)

Wendy (Give Love Create Happiness) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:27:30 +0000

My favorite line – Complete the list, without adding new items when you finish it.
Mental note – GOOD IDEA!

By: PM Hut

PM Hut — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:25:26 +0000

I have discovered, after years of Project Management, that making a “realistic” to-do list is much much better than a to-do list, which is better than nothing.

If the to-do list is unachievable, then the person can easily get frustrated and guilt will start to make a major role, and he will start experiencing the symptoms that you mentioned.

By: A-Z Directory for Mental Health

A-Z Directory for Mental Health — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:07:55 +0000

[...] Stop Using Guilt as a Motivation Tactic [...]

By: Zen Choices

Zen Choices — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:34:52 +0000

I agree that guilt should be extinguished from motivating yourself. I think a great way to do this is to create inspiration for why you are doing what you are doing – whether it’s studying or building a house.

By: Richard Shelmerdine

Richard Shelmerdine — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:20:34 +0000

Ouch that hit a spot! I remember being a stress case and not a relaxed achiever. I stayed up for 2 days revising and caused myself some serious mental damage once in school. Learned a lot from it though. Nice post.

By: Jim Greenwood

Jim Greenwood — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:32:36 +0000

Guilt and stress point in the direction where action is needed. Breaking through to the action is the challenge. Your advice works.

WOW! Ten one-arm push ups with each arm … Congratulations. How long did that take to accomplish?

By: Craig Thomas

Craig Thomas — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:35:23 +0000

Thankfully I tend not to use guilt as a motivator – I’m more of a carrot type guy. I prefer to go out there and get it myself.

By: Priyanka D

Priyanka D — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:24:27 +0000

Guilt and stress both reduce productivity, I find, they cannot be seen as motivators. A sense of responsibility is what would really help manage work loads, but when it gets misplaced they lead to procrastination and ensuing guilt trips.

By: Anders

Anders — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:13:17 +0000

Great article Scott,

I’m optimizing my own personalized GTD. I’m some where in between the two types of students you mention. I really want to improve, but sometimes, even systems flunks – especially if one misses sleep, eats poorly and doesn’t get enough exercise. There are a lot of things in the equation, and not only the steps you describe – but you have mentioned these things in various other posts!

Keep up the good work. Can’t wait to get the next “Ass-kicking email”

By: Arami

Arami — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:49:50 +0000

For every semester throughout college so far, I’ve pulled at least one all nighter (more like several). It was hellish, but it did feel socially acceptable to stay up all night, sometimes along with all the other procastinators as well. I laughed as I read your process for the typical student, because that is exactly what I had been doing every semester so far.
But for the last semester of classes that I’ve had, I made it a point to not pull an all-nighter – no matter what. That was one of my major goals that I haven’t completed in college. And after I was done that semester, it felt very refreshing to do so. I had always felt that I needed to rack my brain up to the very last minute before tests, but by making smart decisions via To-Do lists I was able to be much more relaxed, even if I did have a test or two the following day.