You and I often know what action steps we could do to help us reach our important goals.

Examples:

If you have a fitness goal, one action step might be getting up a little bit earlier in the morning and doing 10 minutes of exercise.

If you have a goal to increase your work income, one action step might be to spend 30 minutes a day studying and learning more about your field.

If you have a goal to have more free time each day, one action step might be to spend 10 minutes with a to do’ list the night before.

The problem we face is that we procrastinate on many of these action steps that we know would help us reach our goals.

That’s where the $20 Challenge is so helpful.

How to use the $20 Challenge:

1: Write down one or more action steps that you could do in the next 7 days that would help you achieve one of your important goals.

2: Commit in writing to doing one or more of more these action steps in the next 7 days Give a copy of this written commitment to one other person along with a $20 note.

3: Arrange to meet with this person 7 days from now and get them to physically cut up your $20 note with a pair of scissors if you have not completed the action steps you committed in writing that you would do.

The $20 challenge works on the principle that it is very painful psychologically to destroy money.

Think about it. When was the last time you destroyed a perfectly good $20 note?

For most people the answer is ‘never’.

The keys to using the $20 Challenge seem to include:

Make the time frame to complete your action steps short. (7 days seems to work well.)

Make the action steps you pick simple to do, but not things you would usually do.

(If you normally exercise 2 times a week for instance; there is not much point in you putting down that as your action steps for the next 7 days.)

Involve another person who will take it seriously and cut up your money if you don’t complete the agreed action steps. This is very important.

So that’s the $20 Challenge:

A simple (if slightly unusual) way to eliminate procrastination and achieve your goals faster.

Take Action:

Try this yourself! It is surprisingly effective.