Pre Commitment: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Pre Commitment, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
About 1 minute
Try it here: plan a commitment that binds your later self
Set up a constraint now, while you are clear, for a moment you expect to be tempted. Deciding in advance is what makes it hold.
Plan a commitment now for a moment you expect to be tempted.
Practices that may help
- Precommitment Devices (Ulysses Contracts)
A precommitment device is a constraint you impose on your future self while you still have the clarity to want the right thing — locking in a choice so the weaker, in-the-moment you cannot undo it. Commitment contracts (including ones with real money or social stakes) have solid experimental support, though they help most for people already motivated to change. - Use commitment devices to make future behavior harder to avoid
Pre-commit to the behavior now — when your current self is motivated — to bind your future self.
Action Planning - Use precommitment devices to lock in future behavior from a patient vantage point
Remove the option to defect when temptation peaks by committing now, before present bias activates.
Hyperbolic Discounting — Why Future You Always Gets the Short End - Lock in the future-oriented choice before the temptation arrives
Pre-commit when motivated and calm so a future impulsive self doesn’t undo it.
The Marshmallow Test and Your Money - Use a precommitment device to lock in future behavior
Restrict your future self’s choices now, when motivation is high.
Nudge Theory, Made Practical - Use precommitment devices to bind your present self to your future self’s preferences
Commit future behavior before the moment of temptation, because your present self is the weak link.
Future Self Continuity, Made Practical - Commitment contracts with real stakes
Put money or a consequence on the line so failing the goal costs something concrete.
Precommitment Devices (Ulysses Contracts) - The premortem (imagine the project already failed)
Before starting, assume the plan has already failed and ask why — then fix it now.
Premeditatio Malorum, in Depth - Cooling-off and waiting rules
Pre-commit to a mandatory delay before any impulsive action.
Precommitment Devices (Ulysses Contracts) - Commitment Contracts, Made Practical
A commitment contract binds your future self to a course of action by attaching real costs — financial, social, or reputational — to failure. The evidence from savings programs and behavioral economics is solid for financial commitments; effects on health and habit change are positive but more variable, and contracts work best when you already want to change.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- Right now I’m fired up and ready, but I already know future-me is going to talk myself out of it when the moment comes
- On a calm Sunday I’m completely sure I’ll follow through this week, but I know by Wednesday afternoon, when the urge hits, that resolve will evaporate
- Right now I’m calm and clear about wanting to save, but I know the impulsive version of me later will raid whatever is within reach
- Right now, fired up, I’m certain I’ll follow through
- In a calm moment I swear I’ll save the raise or skip the splurge, but when the actual moment comes my willpower just isn’t there
Related concerns
- Precommitment Behavior Change
A precommitment device is a constraint you impose on your future self while you still have the clarity to want the right thing — locking in a choice so the weaker, in-the-moment you cannot undo it. Commitment contracts (including ones with real money or social stakes) have solid experimental support, though they help most for people already motivated to change.
- Precommitment Devices
A precommitment device is a constraint you impose on your future self while you still have the clarity to want the right thing — locking in a choice so the weaker, in-the-moment you cannot undo it. Commitment contracts (including ones with real money or social stakes) have solid experimental support, though they help most for people already motivated to change.
- Precommitment Strategy
A precommitment device is a constraint you impose on your future self while you still have the clarity to want the right thing — locking in a choice so the weaker, in-the-moment you cannot undo it. Commitment contracts (including ones with real money or social stakes) have solid experimental support, though they help most for people already motivated to change.
- Commit To Future Behavior
Pre-commit to the behavior now — when your current self is motivated — to bind your future self.
Use commitment devices to make future behavior harder to avoid
- Commitment Device Money
A precommitment device is a constraint you impose on your future self while you still have the clarity to want the right thing — locking in a choice so the weaker, in-the-moment you cannot undo it. Commitment contracts (including ones with real money or social stakes) have solid experimental support, though they help most for people already motivated to change.
- Commitment Device Savings
A precommitment device is a constraint you impose on your future self while you still have the clarity to want the right thing — locking in a choice so the weaker, in-the-moment you cannot undo it. Commitment contracts (including ones with real money or social stakes) have solid experimental support, though they help most for people already motivated to change.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.