I've been working on some things to get me motivated to do what needs to be done throughout the day (not necessarily fitness related), and I think I have found something that's working right now...

I make a to-do list for the day, usually with 5 or 6 things that need to be done (this breaks down the bigger projects into smaller tasks as well) and then I assign each task with a letter. Once I complete all of the tasks with the same letter, I can do something fun. I break things up so that there is one more difficult task for each letter grouping, and then one or more easier tasks. This way I can still do something fun if I don't finish the entire list, but I am also focused on getting projects done so I can do all of my fun activities.

This works especially well since the fun activities are what I usually use as procrastination techniques! For instance, I know that today I can't play the internet game I like until I take out the trash, finish my 4 sets of crunches, clean out the fridge and change the filter in my Pur pitcher. There are other "rewards," such as watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix, for other projects on the list as well.

How do you motivate yourself to finish projects?