Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 9738 answers
Identify one commitment you've repeatedly failed to keep. Write down the specific moment where you break it — the trigger, the context, the emotional state. Now design a commitment device that makes that specific failure mode structurally impossible or costly. It could be financial (give a friend.
Designing commitment devices for the person you wish you were instead of the person you actually are. You set a $500 penalty for missing a gym session, then resent the device and disable it within a week. The device was too harsh for your actual tolerance, so you rebelled against it. Effective.
Commitment devices are external structures that make it costly or impossible to break a commitment. They work because they shift the decision from the moment of temptation to the moment of design.
Telling others about your commitment adds social pressure to follow through.
Telling others about your commitment adds social pressure to follow through.
Telling others about your commitment adds social pressure to follow through.
Telling others about your commitment adds social pressure to follow through.
Telling others about your commitment adds social pressure to follow through.
Telling others about your commitment adds social pressure to follow through.
Choose one commitment you are actively working on — ideally one you have struggled to maintain. Tell one specific person about it today: what you will do, how often, and for how long. Ask them to check in with you at a defined interval (weekly is a good starting point). Write down the exact words.
Announcing your goal to the world on social media and mistaking the applause for progress. Public declarations to audiences who will never follow up create a premature sense of completion — research shows that social acknowledgment of your intention can substitute for the effort of actually doing.
Telling others about your commitment adds social pressure to follow through.
Putting a commitment in writing makes it concrete and reviewable.
Putting a commitment in writing makes it concrete and reviewable.
Putting a commitment in writing makes it concrete and reviewable.
Putting a commitment in writing makes it concrete and reviewable.
Putting a commitment in writing makes it concrete and reviewable.
Choose one commitment you've been carrying only in your head — a behavior change, a project deadline, a promise to yourself. Write it down on paper in specific, concrete terms: what you will do, when you will do it, and what counts as completion. Sign it and date it. Place it somewhere you'll see.
Treating the written commitment as a to-do list item rather than a self-contract. You write it down, feel a brief burst of satisfaction, then file it away where you never see it again. The power of writing isn't in the initial act — it's in the ongoing visibility. A written commitment buried in a.
Putting a commitment in writing makes it concrete and reviewable.
When X happens I will do Y — this specific format dramatically increases follow-through.
When X happens I will do Y — this specific format dramatically increases follow-through.
When X happens I will do Y — this specific format dramatically increases follow-through.
When X happens I will do Y — this specific format dramatically increases follow-through.