Coaching practices for Public Commitment Money
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Public Commitment Money, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’ve tried betting money on my goals before, but losing twenty bucks barely registers and I just shrug it off
- Even putting money on the line hasn’t been enough to make me follow through
- On Sunday I’m completely sure I’ll do it, and by Wednesday the version of me on the couch just shrugs and skips it with zero consequence
- When it’s just a private promise to myself, quitting costs me nothing and nobody’s the wiser
- I’ll show up no problem when someone’s expecting me and would notice if I flaked, but I keep all my own goals private where nobody would ever know if I quit
Practices that may help
- 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. - Anti-charity stakes
Pledge that failure sends your money to a cause you despise.
Precommitment Devices (Ulysses Contracts) - Use an anti-charity donation as your stake
Agree to donate to an organization you oppose if you fail — loss framing at its most visceral.
Commitment Contracts, Made Practical - 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. - Commitment contracts with real stakes
Put money or a consequence on the line so failing the goal costs something concrete.
Precommitment Devices (Ulysses Contracts) - Public commitment
Announce the goal to people whose opinion you care about.
Precommitment Devices (Ulysses Contracts) - Make a public commitment to create social accountability
Telling others what you plan to do makes failure visible and costly — a social stake.
Commitment Contracts, Made Practical - Use social accountability to maintain the fast
Declaring the fast publicly and checking in weekly multiplies follow-through without adding willpower.
The Spending Fast, Made Practical - 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
Related concerns
- 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.
- Anti Charity Commitment Contract
Agree to donate to an organization you oppose if you fail — loss framing at its most visceral.
Use an anti-charity donation as your stake
- Commitment Contracts With Friends
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.
- Commitment Cost Awareness
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.
- 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.
- Commitment Penalty
Pledge that failure sends your money to a cause you despise.
Anti-charity stakes
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.