Did you watch the recent TED movie about the effectiveness of rewards?
When you reward yourself, is it for finishing creative tasks, or tasks that you just need to apply grit to?
This is something I have been wondering about myself when it comes to 'autorewards' (or whatever it is called when rewarding oneself for tasks accomplished).
I spend so many evenings avoiding doing the things I know exactly what I need to do.
I also find task managers beneficial. I use RememberTheMilk (http://www.rememberthemilk.com/) for more general tasks, and I use FogBugz (http://www.fogcreek.com/FogBugz/) for specific coding tasks. To be honest, I don't think it really matter what task list you use. Some are better than others, but they all essentially do the same thing.
What's important is how you use your task list. Do you find that you begin by jumping into your work, and then glance at your task list rarely? If so I'd recommend a change of strategy. Try using your task list as your home base instead. Work religiously to eliminate the items found on it, and ignore all else. If you need to do something that's not on the task list, then add it to the list -- even minor tasks.
I find I'm able to zip through my work when I attack it like this, as you'll eventually get to the point where crossing an item off the list itself feels like a reward.
- get your pace up by doing something physical (bike or jog for 45 minutes or so)
- set a goal to achieve for the day, don't stop to do other stuff until you've reached that goal
- get a task manager to be able to track your time and mark off stuff done and what remains
- reward yourself with something when you've completed a set of tasks