We’ve all walked away at the end of a busy day, wondering where the hours went – and discouraged because we didn’t get everything done we’d hoped to.

 Last week I’d talked to an advisor who had invested $2 to make a small change in his routine – and immediately began feeling better about his progress at the end of the day as a result.

 The $2 investment was for a yellow highlighter.

 He starts each day with a list of calls to make and things to do.

 And as he completes calls and checks things off his to do list, he marks them off his list with the highlighter.

I know it sounds silly” he said, “ but seeing that list of calls with the yellow lines through the ones that are completed makes me feel a bit better about what I’ve achieved at the end of the day.

He went on: “And dumb as it sounds, sometimes my reward for getting something done that’s been lingering on my to do list or making that tough call is being able to stroke it off the list.”

 We all find motivation in different ways – but the fact is that few of us are so self-directed that we can’t benefit from a bit of external reinforcement.

Whether it be taking a mid morning break at Starbucks if you’ve finished the tasks you set out or spending $2 on a highlighter, think about whether there are some simple steps you could take to help increase your motivation level.