Science suggests that the fleeting happiness you get from succumbing to a temptation is inferior—at least when it comes to its effect on how your genes express—to the type of happiness you can draw out of a sense of purpose and meaning in life.

According to the study, a person guided by a deep sense of purpose is less likely to suffer from inflammation and more likely to have a stronger immune system. While both types of happiness can generate the same positive emotions, it’s those with high levels of eudaimonic well-being that benefit more.

Since the results come from a study on just 80 participants, we shouldn’t treat the conclusions as a broadly applicable scientific fact. However, there’s definitely immense power in having a mission in your life.

When all of your decisions are aligned toward a better future (even if you’re suffering at times because things don’t go as planned or it’s hard to maintain self-discipline), you wake up fired up, with vigor and a sense of purpose you’d never get if you were to prioritize hedonic well-being.

It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Limiting the time available to complete a given task is one of the most powerful secrets of productive people and a powerful way to overcome procrastination.

If you lack the self-control needed to work in a focused way, give yourself a challenging deadline to enforce concentration. Suddenly, what normally takes two hours to accomplish (or rather, two hours of intermittent work and distractions) will only take thirty minutes (or less) of 100% focused work at your highest potential.

At the moment I’m writing these words, I have a goal to write four entries in 50 minutes. Because of my self-imposed time pressure, I’m 100% focused on the task at hand. I can’t distract or second-guess myself, two things that interrupt the creative process and slow down my writing pace.

Since I have given myself little time to get the task done, procrastination is a non-issue — I can’t afford to dilly-dally because I’ll miss my deadline. To further motivate myself to work quickly, I established a reward for performing the task on time: reading the new autobiography of Richard Branson, one of my business idols.

This simple trick can become one of your most powerful allies toward increasing your productivity. If you’ve been putting off a certain unpleasant task, get to it now, but instead of giving yourself plenty of time to finish it, do it in 25% of your usual timeframe.

The new, greatly shortened period of work should reduce your resistance to getting started, and the challenge of doing it more quickly should bring out some excitement that will additionally fuel your resolve to get it done.