I have to thank the writers over to Web Worker Daily, especially Mike Gunderloy who wrote about a website called stickK.com.
One tenet of achieving a goal is to write it down. Once you write it down, it becomes real. It is now an expression of thought that is documented. Ah, but I have my Outlook Tasks and there are always a few that get ignored into oblivion and I wrote them down? So, apparently there are goals that need something beyond merely writing them down. That is where stickK.com comes in. They provide a means for you to pay yourself based on your performance. Basically, you pay a set amount up front into an account. You write a contract where you are the payer for some work or goal that you as the payee will accomplish by some determined date. Once you deliver on that goal, you get your money. If you don’t, someone else (as you determine) will.
If the pure economics of the situation still don’t motivate you, then the final aspect is that you name a group you oppose to get your payer money. What this means is that if you are a strict vegetarian you would name the National Meat Association ( NMA) as your forfeiting charity. As the website says, you are now not only financially invested, you are now emotionally invested.
One final addition that I really like about the site is that they make you track your progress. This reinforces your behavior change. For the first couple of weeks writing this blog was difficult, but once I got over the mental hurdle of just doing it, it became much easier and now it is something I look forward to doing.
I’m committed personally and professionally.
Working Thoughts 