Alex Samuel says she never really grew up. And, she adds, neither did you. 

“The truth is, all of us have that little kid who doesn’t want to their homework buried inside somewhere,” Samuel told Charlie Herman, host of WNYC's host Money Talking.

The author of several books on mastering technology, Samuel wrote the article "How to Trick Yourself into Doing the Tasks You Dread" for the Harvard Business Review by turning to her own kids for inspiration. She says she gives herself something like the gold stars you get in grade school to motivate her to get work done. She's not above it — and she gets results.

But it's not only trick she uses to. First, it helps to identify the tasks at hand. According to her, there are two main types of tasks we tend to dread: the mindless ones, like emptying out email; and the daunting tasks, like writing a novel. Depending on the kind of task she's tackling, she gives herself a different kind of reward. 

Samuel says it's important to tailor the grown-up star chart to your own preferences.

"One person’s delight is another person’s dreaded task," she said Pay attention to which tasks stay undone on your To-Do list — that's where you should apply these rewards.

But wait. There's one more to consider. It's what Samuel calls "Avoid These Tasks." If there are projects you go out of your way to avoid doing, then just don't do them. Get rid of the guilt. And what you might find, as Samuel did, once you do that, you will actually check them off your list.