When I originally started writing on this blog I had one goal: Publish 52 articles in one year.

Good News: I’m still on track to hit that goal

Bad News: This blog officially has no theme. This is ok though, it’s a personal blog after all.

When I committed to writing 52 articles at the beginning of this year, I did it for one reason: To prove to myself that I could stick with a project.

For most of my adult life I had bounced around from idea to idea, never gaining much traction. These ranged from different jobs, new ventures, the next hobby, and everything else in-between. I even managed to sneak in a road-trip across the U.S. in there (would highly recommend if you ever get the chance).

The one thing I had felt I was missing during this time-period though was consistent progress towards a goal.

To tackle this nagging feeling, I created this blog. What I have learned along the way is that the progress you can make when you set yourself to a clear schedule is amazing.

Where I Fell Short

I failed to pick a concise topic. Which is fine because, again, this is just a personal blog.

When I originally started writing though, I had grand plans for be something more.

It all started when I read the book: Atomic Habits. It’s a great read that can be summed up in one lesson: You’ll accomplish great things if you just focus on making 1% improvements every day.

The book itself started out as a self-improvement blog. After reading through many of the different articles I immediately wanted to do the same thing. (I know, not very original.) This led me to pick the most obvious topic: Self-Improvement.

Turns out there were only so many articles on self-improvement that I wanted to write about.

While I could have spent more time reading and researching new topics, my heart just wasn’t in it. I still love the topic of self-improvement, but just not enough to learn about it week in and week out.

Luckily for me (and maybe for you?), I didn’t set the goal of creating a self-help blog with 52 articles. I set a goal of publishing 52-articles about whatever topic I wanted to write about.

This has taught me one thing about goal setting. Goals should be concrete enough to keep you committed, but flexible enough to keep you growing. Pursuing a goal because you said you would is great, but only if there’s a greater purpose to the goal.

What it has helped me learn

This blog has taught me one thing: Consistency is so incredibly, freaking powerful.

Doing something on a set schedule (that you control) is both one of the easiest, and one of the hardest, things to do in the world. 

For a few of my articles, I was able to write them in under a few hours (such as this one). For others, the process would drag on and I’d find myself putting the finishing touches on them at 1:30 at night.

With each article published, I moved one step closer to my goal.

The biggest thing I gained though, was the confidence that I could accomplish audacious goals

Any goal can be within your grasp. You just need to chip away at it a little bit each day (or each week). During this journey, two major quotes resonated with me.

Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years.

– Bill Gates

Rome wasn’t build in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour.

You don’t have to do it all today. Just lay a brick.

– James Clear

The biggest difference for me was seeing firsthand with my eyes what I can do with consistency. Every time I look at the number of articles I have published, it is a point of pride.

Where will we be going from here?

To the Moon! 🚀💎👐 (Just kidding, however this pop culture reference will now be a permanent part of this blog).

I decided to tackle one of the most audacious goals I could: Learning to code.

There are so, so many reasons that I did not take this leap earlier in life. The three biggest ones are:

1. It’s incredibly hard to learn
2. The time commitment is mind-bogglingly large
3. I thought I could get by in life without learning it.

The thing I’ve realized in recent months though, is that technology is going to continue to progress forward. Being able to understand and interact with it will continue to become more important than ever.

As I start on this new adventure, I know I’m taking another turn in life and my focus. Maybe in 3-months I’ll have moved onto something new. Honestly though, I hope not.

In the 1519s, six hundred men arrived by boat at the Yucatan Peninsula determined to explore the New World and its riches. First though, they did one thing: sunk their ships so there was no possibility of returning home.

This action, ordered by their captain Hernán Cortés, made it clear that their only option was to continue on their path forward and it’s an extreme version of what is known as a “Commitment Device”.

Commitment devices, at their core, are a method which allows you to make a current decision that either encourages, or discourages, a future action. If you’re lucky, the first commitment device you had in your life was your parents. Growing up in their household committed you to living by their rules and expectations.

Once you grow up though and enter the world, you’re on your own. Without commitment devices, it can become hard to make progress on goals because you need to rely completely on willpower, which can be HARD. You don’t have an infinite amount of it and willpower varies day-to-day, which in the end can lead to inconsistent results when it comes to your goals

That’s where commitment devices come in. There are many different commitment devices out there, but they usually fall into three distinct categories: Restrictive, Public, and Sunk Cost.

Restrictive Commitment Devices

Restrictive commitment devices are ones that stop you from doing something in the future and they are most effective at removing bad habits. Usually they do this by increasing the friction of a bad habit (i.e. unplugging your TV to make it harder to watch) or they make it completely impossible (completely getting rid of your TV).

Common restrictive commitment devices:

1. Internet blocking apps. I use StayFocusd to set my surfing limit on Reddit to 30 minutes each day.
2. Deleting apps off the phone. I haven’t had Facebook on my phone in years.
3. Avoiding buying unhealthy food. If you don’t have junk food, you can’t eat junk food.

Restrictive commitment devices are far and away my favorite approach to stopping bad habits. They are easy to create and if you implement them correctly, you’ll be able to benefit from them for a long-time.

Pros: Incredibly easy to implement 

Cons: Hard to undo (by design).

Great For: Stopping bad habits

Public Commitment Devices

A public commitment device is one that uses social pressure to encourage or discourage a certain behavior. While many people have seen success with these, the downside is they rely on fear for motivation. They can be effective in the short-term, but it’s hard to make changes stick for the long-term unless there’s another underlying motivation.

Common public commitment devices:

1. Announcing your New Year’s resolution to your family.
2. Posting an announcement online that you’re going to start a business.
3. Telling a group of friends you’re going to stop drinking.
4. Committing to working out with a gym buddy.

For me, I’ve done all of the above (except for #3) and they have all failed at one point or another. The only public commitment device I’ve seen real success with is this blog. The key differentiator for me was that I wrote on my own for a few months before publishing the blog. Then, only after I had published articles for over a month, did I finally make a small public announcement.

The commitment device in this instance is really just an addition to another goal that I have, which was to start writing more. That goal came first, and the fact that I turned this into a public commitment device provided additional positive reinforcement.

Good for: Building selective new habits.

Pros: Highly binding, especially in the short-term.

Cons: Not as effective as you’d like them to be. High potential for public embarrassment which can damage your mindset and goal setting.

Sunk Cost Commitment Devices

These are the worst type of commitment devices. They rely on the idea that once you pay money for something, you’re more likely to do it. Avoid these at all costs. Common sunk cost devices:

1. Buying a year long gym membership
2. Purchasing an annual subscription to a wellness app 
3. Getting that sweet, sweet Peloton you always wanted

Now that is not to say, don’t buy a gym membership or a Peloton. Just don’t go and buy those if the primary goal of your purchase is to develop a new habit. If you go into it with that goal, you’ll likely join the one extremely large group of others who make up the $1.8 billion of unused gym memberships each year.

Good For: Nothing

Pros: These make you feel good in the short-term.

Cons: Ineffective. Prone to the fallacy of sunk cost.

Contractual and Financial Commitment Devices

Contracts are not normally referred to as commitment devices, but at their core that is what they are.

When you enter into any type of contract, whether it’s with your employer, the bank, or the government, you are committing to fulfill your side of the contract. However, this post is not about contracts. This post is about improving yourself.

Some people do use these though to reinforce specific types of behaviors. Examples that I have seen:

1. Signing contracts with trainers to hit certain goals (or pay them money).
2. Creating a curse jar so you stop using swear words.
3. Joining the army to get in better shape.

Good for: Financial decisions

Pros: Legally binding. There will be consequences.

Cons: Legally binding. There will be consequences.

In Summary…

Commitment devices often fail because they were not built on a strong foundation. People make big announcements about how they’re going to change (New Year’s Resolutions come to mind?), but after that initial burst of enthusiasm fades, so does your commitment.

With enough effort, any commitment device can be undone. So before you put them in place, think long and hard about why you are doing it.