Do you have a hard time breaking old habits and making new ones? Do you tend to abandon New Year’s resolutions or find yourself failing to keep your promises to yourself? It can be really hard to change aspects of your life!
So here’s an idea: What if you used an incentive system that cost you money every week that you didn’t meet your goal? In fact, what if the money you lost from breaking your resolution went to support some cause you hated (eg. Global League of Child Soldiers, Adam Sandler Fan Club, Developing World Child Pageant Promoters, etc.)? Would that make you more likely to stick to your promises?
That’s one of the ways you can use StickK.com. On this website, you plug in your goal, pick a cause, and state how much you are willing to have deducted from your credit card for each week that you don’t meet your goal. The cause doesn’t have to be one you hate. You can choose one you love, but I have heard from others that it’s less of an incentive to meet your goals if you know that your failure is actually of benefit to a charity you truly believe in.
So say my goal is to get my home office organized, and I’m willing to spend $10 each week as my penalty for failing to work on my goal. I would break that goal down so my plan is to sort through one box of files a week. Every week that I don’t sort through one box (and here, you find a friend or family member to act as your referee and verify your results), $10 is automatically deducted from my credit card and sent to Citizens United Against Baby Animals (CUABA).
One of the best parts is, there is no fee to join. In fact, if you meet your goal each week, the use of StickK won’t cost you a dime. How that’s for an incentive?
For those of you trying to be more organized but having a hard time remembering to regularly sort through your things, put things back where you found them or cut down on your shopping, StickK.com could be a big help. Why not try it out and report back your findings here in the comments section? Or shoot me an email and let me know how it goes. info@respacedpdx.com
Knowing your money will benefit some cause you absolutely hate if you fail to reach your goals may be just the gimmick you need to finally achieve personal success!
Image of all the money I did not get paid for reviewing stickK.com courtesy of epSos.de @ Flickr.
