So far, this experiment is turning out as expected. I’ve had more focus on hitting my targets each week and even procrastinate less often on long-term projects – though, it still may be a little too often. As the trial began, I thought back on the accountability group my friends and I had in a trial a couple years ago. So far, I’ve been left with the question, are punishments really the best way to stay accountable?
Changes Paying Off
Last week, I mentioned changes I made in the approach I was taking in my sleeping goal. Focusing on waking up has gotten me out of bed at a far greater rate.
I do seem to be in a strange loop in which I wake up on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the goal time but struggle on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If I were to guess, it’s due to the impact on the prior day’s sleep that is affecting me. This is because on my early wake up days, I also get to bed sooner, leading to a few more hours of sleep when rising later. I would need to investigate further to really get to the bottom of it, but I think it’s a safe observation for now.
In regard to setting the sudden goal to put out a project once a month, I took more time to start than I expected to start. I spent some time coming up with projects to work on, and after picking one, it still took me a couple days to sit down and begin work. It’s a different direction from some of my current interests but has been sitting on the back burner for about a month now. I chose it over the aforementioned “current interests” because the latter requires a lot more skill development to even get started.
In the end, knowing I had a $100 pendulum descending on me, I finally got myself in gear and started the project. It’s a short text adventure game in the spirit of Zork or Adventure, but instead of typing out commands, the player is given a few action cards. Storytelling card games have long been a fun way to tell absurd, entertaining stories amongst my friends. One friend even came up with a “ruleset” for the ridiculously titled Ye Olde Card Game, in which the goal is to make up a story using a subset of the deck. There’s some other specifics, but I think we change them every time we meet up due to not remembering the exact rules.
Impact of a Dollar
On the subject of friends, this trial has me thinking about the accountability group I met with two years ago. While we met regularly for a few months after starting, eventually we stopped. Still, we were able to get a lot accomplished in that time – all to avoid the big breakfast bill.
It was a fun way not only to push myself to get goals done, but also to meet with friends and see them making progress as well. It’s astounding the influence even a small amount of money can have on behavior. To avoid paying a few bucks, some people will go above and beyond.
The Carrot Versus the Stick
While I’ve certainly seen benefits setting stakes for myself should I fail, I am interested in the idea of comparing the impact of tying rewards to certain goals.
A commonly accepted aspect of human behavior and psychology is that we are prone to avoid losses, even when potential benefits logically outweigh the loss. Not only does this apply to risky wagers, but also to performance. In a 2012 study, student test scores were seven percentage points higher when teachers were paid a bonus upfront and would have to return it when not meeting the goal of raising scores when compared to classes of teachers who were to be paid the bonus after.
There appears to be some debate in the effectiveness of using rewards or punishments for increasing performance. I’ve found some psychologists fighting on the side of rewards being more beneficial, though in this case it was specific to children. This does tie in with the commonly accepted habit loop introduced by Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit. The loop consists of a cue or trigger, a routine or behavior, and a reward. All of these elements are needed to create a habit, though I suppose one may consider the avoidance of a punishment a reward in this process.
I’m curious to hear from you. Do you find yourself motivated more by rewards or punishments associated with goals?
Trying Out Before Buying In 