On TV, the teacher or parent says the opposite of what they want a student or child to do, and presto! The child does that thing to be contrary but is in fact falling into the “trap.”

Reverse psychology they call it.

Surely everyone’s watched the shows. They wouldn’t fall for it.

In recent months, my motivation has gone south for the winter leaving me in a state where I never say yes to a full-day sub job that calls me the morning of the job. It just feels like too much effort to rush around and make it to the job. (And what’s with those automated calls for an 8-4 job that come in at 8:30? Um, I’m already late for work? Who needs THAT stress?)

This resulted in three very lean months of substitute teaching paychecks.

Why does this Matter?

As I tell the students when I sub, “I’m a full-time author but I take sub jobs to earn money.”

Recently, I released three indie titles. Translation: I spent thousands of dollars on editing, covers, formatting and advertising.

I promise you, I did not earn even a small percentage of that back. Yet. I have high hopes. Well, not “high” hopes, but I hope to sell enough books (about 800 of book one in the series will help me break even on THAT book) to say it wasn’t a “hobby project.”

Folks, it’s not just something I tell students. I work as a freelancer on Fiverr and substitute teach to fund my writing. If it’s not indie titles, it’s my monthly Novel Academy dues or editor fees for my SPP titles (since I have to submit an edited manuscript to them for publishing).

It takes money to make money.

The second (and more important at the moment) reason I need to make money is because we have a BIG international trip coming up in May. It’s the trip of a lifetime. I’m supposed to be saving $2,000 for spending money (and I’m behind on that).

How I Tricked Myself

What does all this have to do with the title for this blog?

I needed to either recall my motivation from it’s snowbird state. It told me, “No thanks. I’ll see you in April or maybe late March when it isn’t dark twelve hours per day.”

I needed to take sub jobs. I needed to be ready to take those last-minute calls. And I probably needed to work three days (rather than the usual two) in March and April to make up for the funds I didn’t save in January and February.

So, I told myself, “You work Wednesday through Friday at the school.”

Today is the first Wednesday. Last night as I was cooking dinner, the phone rang. I picked up this lovely job teaching math at the local middle school.

Hurray! So far so good, and I don’t have to test my “mind games” yet.

But tomorrow, I’ll get up, exercise, have quiet time and take a shower. Now that I don’t eat breakfast, I’ll have plenty of time to get ready for work.

**Note: It’s tomorrow, and I did get up and was working in my office by 8 AM, and finished a household chore by 9 AM. I also took a job for tomorrow, so two days of work this week. WIN!)

I’m even going to pack a lunch for myself in the evenings.

If the call comes, I’ll be ready to go. If it doesn’t? It’s still a win for me. I’ll be ready to head to my office and do some author (or freelance) work.

What do you think? Have you ever done something to make your brain think the way you wanted it to?