Oct 2, 2020
Today, we are talking about
precommitment and how it can be used in life and business. As far
as concepts go, I’m guessing this is one of those you’ve heard of
and think you know everything about, so I’m going to challenge that
belief and hopefully teach you some new insights and ways to use
precommitment on today’s show by sharing a personal example.
Precommitment is very closely related to time discounting, as well
as loss aversion, habits, and several other concepts.
As a side note, can I just say
that I can hardly believe we’ve made it to 120 episodes of the
podcast already? And, there is another exciting milestone that is
going to be hitting as this episode comes out. I’m not sure exactly
when it will happen, but sometime between recording and the release
of the episode we will hit a quarter of a million downloads! A
quarter-million you guys! From 160 countries around the world and
120 episodes downloaded 250,000 times.
Precommitment is a big reason
this has all been made possible. Because of my vow to have new
episodes every single Friday no matter what – a precommitment I
made to the void when launching the show, we always have new
content come out. In 120 episodes I’ve never missed, and I hope I
never will. It seems very fitting that today’s episode on
precommitment is marking this exciting quarter-million
milestone.
But precommitment can be used
for a lot more than keeping to a content schedule. In today’s show,
I’ll share an example of how I am using it to be more in alignment
with the person I want to be, tips to overcome cognitive dissonance
in a positive way (and what that means), some great apps to help
with precommitment, behavioral scientists using this in practice,
and more!
Show Notes:
- [01:01] Precommitment is very closely related
to time discounting, as well as loss aversion, habits, and several
other concepts that will be linked for you in the show
notes.
- [03:02] When I started The Brainy Business, I
made a commitment to do a weekly show for one full year before
evaluating if it was a fit for my business or a waste of time. I’m
so thankful to say, it was clearly worth its weight in time gold
(far before hitting that one year mark) and The Brainy Business is
here to stay.
- [06:11] Precommitments can be
external like
throwing all the junk food out of the house or dumping soda down
the drain. They can also be
internal, like a
promise to yourself that you will not break. And a
combination.
- [07:20] Cognitive
dissonance is essentially
the discomfort we feel when our perception of ourselves doesn’t
line up with our actions. (This concept will have its own episode
soon.)
- [08:28] Our brains write off a story that
doesn’t align with how we want to see ourselves surprisingly
quickly.
- [10:02] We can use some precommitment tactics
while in a cold state to help set us up for success when the moment
comes.
- [11:53] The thing about precommitment is, while
it does help us stick to the right stuff, we can also be way too
good at ignoring our own best intentions (so it doesn’t always
work). The best way to combat this? Narrow focus.
- [13:23] We need to own that past to have a
better future. If we don’t (and instead let the distaste for
cognitive dissonance explain it away) it will never change—we will
never change—and no amount of precommitment trick will do it for
us.
- [14:17] As with all applied behavioral science,
there is a bigger problem at the root, and it is important to take
a step back to make sure you are addressing the whole thing when
you put your precommitment devices in place.
- [16:00] Finding the most important thing to
work on and dedicating all your willpower to that one thing is much
more likely to be successful.
- [16:48] Depending on the goal you choose to use
precommitment tactics to help with, there are some cool apps, like
Stickk.
- [18:26] Forest is an app that can be used if
you want to be more productive and especially if you have a hard
time not getting distracted by your phone.
- [21:13] When Nikki Rausch was on the show we
talked about making it easy to do business with you and scheduling
your circle back calls in the moment someone is interested. Making
that precommitment is so much more effective in continuing
conversations moving forward.
- [21:41] Get the appointment on the calendar in
that moment. It is a precommitment that is a lot harder to push off
than a theoretical conversation that may happen
someday.
- [23:08] Set the expectations upfront to help
everyone be on the same page and comfortable with the
commitment.
- [24:09] I want to close out this episode with
one of my favorite precommitment tactics, the loss aversion
jar.
- [26:42] Seeing the money in the jar and knowing
it all goes away if you miss, can help you keep on track especially
if you have a buddy who you know will hold you to it (the threat
needs to be real!).
- [27:34] You can celebrate your wins and achieve
those goals by using precommitment in a responsible
way.
- [28:31] If you can’t commit to having the
“extremely bad thing” as your consequence if you don’t meet the
goal...ask yourself why. If you’re not willing to commit to it
fully, don’t work on it right now. Is there something else that is
more important to work on first?
- [29:32] What will your goal be? When will you
achieve it? Make the commitment by sharing it with me on social
media. Find me as @thebrainybiz everywhere (links
below!)
Thanks for listening. Don’t
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what you heard, please leave a
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show.
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