Putting your money where your mouth is ...

I saw a recent hack in lifehacks.com which led me to this blog entry in the NYT about loss aversion and weight loss. The basic idea is that people are more motivated by avoiding a loss than they are by a potential gain, and a way to get people to stick to their resolutions is to make them pay ... literally ... if they don't. Enter StickK -- a site that allows you to make "commitment contracts" -- you sign up for a goal, set stakes, and if you don't meet your goal the money goes to charity (or you can sign up to donate the money to an anti-charity -- one that opposes your values on gun control, abortion, gay marriage or the environment).

Needless to say, I was intrigued. Given how many diets I've started in the past 10 years or so, I could use something that would make me stick with it. But when I went to the site I hesitated. Yes, the weight loss one isn't the best idea, given that it's a timed goal over something you don't have ultimate control over -- exactly how much you'll lose by when. You can customize a goal, though, so why was I hesitant?

I don't trust myself to stay the course, really. Given how many diets I've started in the past 10 years or so. I don't believe I can do it for the long term. And if I don't believe that, then why am I here? I have to believe in myself and my ability to make the lifestyle choice, before I can even think about losing weight in the long term. And when you have as much to lose as I do, it's definitely long term.

Maybe this will help. I can give myself a goal that I can control -- I will stay on the diet for 12 weeks. I can't control the results -- what my body does -- but I can control what I do. I have to believe in my self-control. So $120 to saying I'm still here on June 4th.

Can't bring myself to give money to the anti-environment crowd though. Unspecified charity it is.