My mom recently lost $5,000 to my brother in a commitment contract gone wild. That was started in part as an experiment early in Beeminder’s beta period before we’d thought of things like the exponential pledge schedule. Believe it or not, it was actually a pretty positive outcome: my mom gradually lost a tiny bit of... »
Until now you haven’t had much choice about how much to pledge (put at risk) on your Beeminder commitment contracts. It starts out free, then $5, then each subsequent time you derail from your yellow brick road you’re encouraged (though not forced) to jump to the next pledge level for your next... »
This is a guest post by Philip Hellyer who can walk on water and outrun bullets, with the help of Beeminder. He eloquently describes what we think is currently the single biggest pain point (though there are many) with Beeminder right now — how to keep from procrastinating indefinitely on... »
The problem of self-control may be a ridiculous first world problem but it's the granddaddy of first world problems and I want to solve it. We live amidst a deluge of opportunities for instant gratification, especially in the form of food and entertainment, and most of us don't handle it well. The general problem, known as akrasia, is this: you understand your own best interests when you consider them dispassionately, but in the moment your decision-making is distorted. The best time for, say, a workout is always "tomorrow".... »
Half a year ago, with Beeminder in its infancy, we committed to averaging one User-Visible Improvement (UVI) to Beeminder every day for at least the next six months. That contract has been insanely valuable to us. “Losing momentum is the most dangerous thing that can happen to a startup.” Lately it’s been a no-brainer (though still... »
Beeminder is a tool for getting yourself to do the things you want to do… when you’re thinking about what you want to do next week. For example, next week I want to eat healthy, work out at least 3 times, and work at least 40 hours on Beeminder. That’s in stark contrast to what I want to... »
Economists have been wondering for at least half a century why we don’t see more use of commitment devices in the real world. In 1955, one economist speculated that the reason is risk and uncertainty, “both as to future tastes and future opportunities.” We’ve been thinking hard about how to... »
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