There are two things I am really good at in my life right now. Social networking and posting daily blogs. My friend recently commented on how he was impressed by my ability to update every day. He didn’t realize that my motivations were maliciously selfish. I suppose that anyone who writes a blog is being a little egotistical, but I have taken it to a much darker level. I post every day because I love seeing my views go up, and I know that now that I have established this as a daily blog, to fail to post every day would result in a loss of views. And my ego wouldn’t be able to handle that.

Even though this is an entirely horrible motivation, it works because I get immediate pay-off for my work. The more posts I have, the more views I get. And while I’m worried about views, I am becoming a better writer, meeting new people, and learning about myself. The positives far outweigh the fact that this blog encourages evil, detestable behavior.

The same thing is true for social media. The more people I friend and follow on Twitter, the more people are likely to friend and follow me. And that’s an immediate reward, and I love it.

I have been obsessed recently with motivating myself and trying to figure out how to reward myself for working hard. I recently started listening to Pandora’s Easy Jazz station while I work. That motivates me because it makes me feel like all my work is the important travails of a man living in 1920s-1950s New York. And that’s pretty wonderful. I don’t own any suits, but when I work, I feel like I do.

But I’ve been trying to find creative ways to give myself immediate rewards that are actually beneficial. (I could watch television after every paper I finish or something but that seems like a bit of a waste of time.) I want rewards that relate directly to my work. I like my work; I do. It’s just… work.

Some people just came up with a really smart idea for motivating people to work out. It’s called Fitocracy. It’s basically a real life video game for working out. You enter in your workouts on this website, and it gives you points, and you get rewards and stuff. Super super cool. I want to find more creative ways for motivating myself, you know?

How do you motivate yourself?