Keeping yourself accountable with Wikipedia Pacts

The easiest way to stay accountable

If I hadn't published this article today, I'd have had to pay $100 to Wikipedia.

This consequence keeps me accountable and is why I never missed an email so far.

You can use this technique, too: Putting money on the table will help you achieve your goals.

To do that, take a task that you just keep putting off. And then promise to a friend of yours “Either I do this task by that specific day, or I pay $100 to <a certain organization>.”

I call it the “Wikipedia Pact” because in my case the money would go directly to Wikipedia.

This is the power of accountability when money is at stake. Depending on how important the task is to you, you can increase or decrease the amount of money. The only thing you need for this is another person to objectively judge whether you completed the task (apart from the money, of course 😅).

If you’re feeling really adventurous, you can replace Wikipedia with an organization you hate. I can assure you from a very painful personal experience that the suffering of failing and paying is unbearable (which is why I’ll never fail again).

Try this out the next time you're procrastinating, and see how far you get.

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✏️ Retro

(Like always, you can download the Notion template to take structured notes.)

What goals did you set for yourself last month, and how well did you achieve them?

Make a list of your goals (even if they were only implicit) and score them from 1 (low) to 10 (high). You are not allowed to pick a 7. Take notes as you go.

Is there something that is blocking you?

What held you back last month? What can you do to avoid this next month?

What did you learn?

Did you learn something about yourself, your environment, or about the work you do?

🔭 Planning

What are your top 3 priorities next month?

Why are they important to you?

What goals do you set for yourself in light of these priorities?

To beat procrastination, make sure to split every higher-level goal into small subgoals.

What are potential obstacles or challenges you may face?

How can you prepare for them?

🌈 Bonus

With task are you procrastinating?

How could creating a Wikipedia pact help?

🙏 Thanks!

Thank you for being a part of Mental Garden. I sincerely hope you found this email useful.

As the end of the year approaches, so does the time for Mental Garden’s Yearly Reflection. I’ve already updated the Mental Garden Yearly Reflection and created both a version for printing and for Google Docs. If you have any wishes or ideas for this year’s reflection, please let me know!

With gratitude,
Marc