I have recently started transferring money to my friends with instructions to only return the money if I accomplish a task by a certain time. I have the deadline be far enough away that I should theoretically be able to accomplish the task without difficulty, but close enough to create a sense of real urgency. In this I am actually USING loss-aversion to my advantage, because damned if I’m going to let him have MY money. I’ve only used this a couple of times, but so far it has been very successful.
Problems: If I schedule the deadline too far out, I don’t feel its urgency until it is close, so accurately estimating how long I need to do something needs to be developed. Also, I am still figuring out how to break down big projects into goals that I can give short-term deadlines.
Overall I would give this a +5, but I’m still experimenting with it.
Yes, and I’ve used it, but it is designed for trends in behavior, not the production of a deadline in a few hours. I also find the announced commitment to a friend feels more urgent than incoming reminder emails.
I have recently started transferring money to my friends with instructions to only return the money if I accomplish a task by a certain time. I have the deadline be far enough away that I should theoretically be able to accomplish the task without difficulty, but close enough to create a sense of real urgency. In this I am actually USING loss-aversion to my advantage, because damned if I’m going to let him have MY money. I’ve only used this a couple of times, but so far it has been very successful. Problems: If I schedule the deadline too far out, I don’t feel its urgency until it is close, so accurately estimating how long I need to do something needs to be developed. Also, I am still figuring out how to break down big projects into goals that I can give short-term deadlines. Overall I would give this a +5, but I’m still experimenting with it.
Have you heard about beeminder.com (Less Wrong post here)?
Yes, and I’ve used it, but it is designed for trends in behavior, not the production of a deadline in a few hours. I also find the announced commitment to a friend feels more urgent than incoming reminder emails.