The trick to actually enjoying the gym: hostage-taking

Here's a hack for any chore you keep dodging: only let yourself enjoy a specific guilty pleasure while doing it. Love a trashy podcast, a page-turner audiobook, or a bingeable show? Ration it so it's available only during the boring task. Behavioral scientists call this temptation bundling — chaining a "want" (fun) to a "should" (effort) so the fun does the motivating for you.

The idea comes from a study by Katherine Milkman and colleagues (published in Management Science) memorably titled "Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym." Participants were given tempting audiobooks — but one group could listen only at the gym. That group started showing up far more often than people left to their own willpower, because the workout became the price of finding out what happens next in the story.

Why it works: instead of relying on willpower in the moment, you make the unpleasant task the gateway to something you already crave. The chore stops competing with your fun and starts delivering it. The catch is discipline about the boundary — the effect fades if you cheat and enjoy the treat elsewhere.

You can bundle almost anything: fancy coffee only while doing admin, a favorite playlist only while cleaning, a comfort show only while folding laundry.