Lifehacker has a good post from a while back giving a very useful productivity tip from Jerry Seinfeld:
He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself—even when you don’t feel like it.
He revealed a unique calendar system he uses to pressure himself to write.
Read the whole thing to get the details on how it works.
The author of the post, Brad Isaac, points out that this technique can be used in many different areas. He’s used it “for exercise, to learn programming, to learn network administration, to build successful websites and build successful businesses.”
I’ve done a variation of this with some things as well, including eating less, trying to read 3 books a day, and getting up super early, and found it to be very effective (though the 3 books a day didn’t last too long!).
You can even implement this technique on your iPhone with the Goalkeep app.