Roy Tang

Someone on quora asked:

How do I motivate myself and do things that aren’t immediately gratifying?

It is difficult to do things or learn habits that don’t provide immediate feedback loops. It is best if you are able to find a way to make that thing intrinsically gratifying for you. That is, it should be something that you are able to enjoy doing for yourself without the need for external gratification.

Barring that, you can try to get some help. You can manufacture the gratification. One thing you can do is give yourself a small reward for doing the task. For example, if you are quitting smoking, treat yourself to a fine dinner every week that you don’t smoke. You can get your friends to help you track your progress and provide rewards. Maybe they won’t hang out with you if you don’t stop smoking (you might say, “what cruel friends!”, but maybe they decided it’s for your own good)

Join a group of people who are trying to do the same thing. It provides some inspiration to see other people’s progress (“Wow, if they can do it, so can I!") and some gratification to be see yourself progressing opposite them (“I’m still behind George, but at least I’m doing better than Bob!")