6 Free Financial Modeling Lessons...and More.

Enter your e-mail below to get our new Free Modeling Tutorials ($200+ Value).

< previous | next >

Help Me Pick My Stickk
 

Edmundo Braverman's picture
ST
(Human, 14,397
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 7:30am
mace.jpg

Here we are on the last day of 2012, and no one is more excited about it than I am. There were a few high points for me, but overall it was a pretty boring year and I'm happy to put it in my rear view. Based on some of the stories on WSO, I know I'm not alone in feeling this way.

I've always loved New Year's because it feels like a new start even if it isn't. For the longest time I put a ton of stock in January 1st. I'd start fleshing out my goal plan for the coming year over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, and that way I'd have a running start towards achieving it come the first of the year. These days there's nothing I want that badly anymore (which is a pretty sad thing to admit in and of itself) and my goals for the coming year have morphed into the more esoteric and cerebral, and are therefore less tangible and more difficult to measure.

But I've decided to try something new this year, and I need your help to make it most effective. I find that I'm no longer motivated by incentives. In the past I would promise myself a Caribbean vacation (for example) if I hit a specific goal. Over the years, however, I got into the habit of just rewarding myself whether or not I was successful, and therefore a positive incentive no longer holds any real meaning to me. I think what I need is pain and not pleasure. That's where you come in.

I attended the CreativeLive seminar with Tim Ferriss a couple months ago, and of the many things I got out of it one of the most intriguing was Stickk.com and the behavioral science behind it. It was one of those "A-HA!" moments for me. Incentives no longer work for me, but disincentives probably will, as long as they're painful enough. That's what Stickk is all about, and how they got their name (i.e. the carrot and the Stickk).

Here's how it works: you make a commitment to achieving a specific and measurable goal. Boom, that's the same as any other goal setting exercise. What sets Stickk apart is how they motivate you to achieve your goal, and this is the real genius of it. You pledge an amount of money that is meaningful to you and, wait for it..., if you don't achieve your goal in the allotted time the money is forfeited to someone or some cause you hate (in my case $5,000 is enough to make me squirm if I had to give it to someone I hate).

To ratchet up the pressure on you, you have to appoint a third party to verify your results and you can elect to have those results broadcast to your social network. So that means all of your Facebook friends are gonna know you failed and that you donated a bunch of dough to The George W. Bush Presidential Library, and you then suffer the social fallout from said failure in addition to losing the money.

So what I'm looking for from you guys is a really great anti-charity to pledge my dough to. I'm talking about something really distasteful to a libertarian like me. The best I've come up with on my own is The Creation Studies Institute, but that's mostly painful for the ironic social fallout it would cause in my life. I'm looking for something that just makes my stomach turn at the thought of giving them money.

So let's see what you've got. What would motivate you to achieve all your goals just to make sure this organization wouldn't see a cent from you? And do you think a negative motivator would work better for you than a positive motivator?

Tags:

Comments

SirTradesaLot's picture

Based on some of your comment

 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 8:01am

Based on some of your comment history, maybe this one:
http://www.quran-institute.org/

Turbo leverage for capital explosion -- BD Capital

My WSO Blog

mehp's picture

Church of Scientology

 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 8:10am

Church of Scientology

Cash4Gold's picture

MADD or the Brady Center to

ST
(Gorilla, 664
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 8:17am

MADD or the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Your move.

surferdude867's picture

The U.S.

O
(Baboon, 147
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 8:17am

The U.S. Government:

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift...

Boom.

Oscar_chow's picture

KIM AND KANYE ARE EXPECTING A

 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 8:42am

KIM AND KANYE ARE EXPECTING A BABY you must buy something for the baby shower

eliteculture's picture

www.algore.com/

IB
(Baboon, 132
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 9:02am

www.algore.com/

IamObama's picture

surferdude867: The U.S.

ER
(Gorilla, 621
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 9:17am
surferdude867:

The U.S. Government:

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift...

Boom.

Wow I can't believe this actually exists.

In The Flesh's picture

Fred Phelps and the Westboro

HF
(Neanderthal, 2,812
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 9:25am

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church.

Your success is now guaranteed, Eddie. You're welcome.

Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com

https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012

ocpitmaster's picture

In The Flesh: Fred Phelps and

EN
(Monkey, 34
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 9:35am
In The Flesh:

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church.

Your success is now guaranteed, Eddie. You're welcome.

Couldn't agree more! Excellent choice!!
As to the benefit of negative reinforcement, that's a tough one. We all, espsecially those of us that are 'Type A', have been trained to response to the carrot, the reward. That would be a total reeducation for me; and at my time, probably not going to be hugely succesful.

Edmundo Braverman's picture

In The Flesh: Fred Phelps and

ST
(Human, 14,397
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 9:39am
In The Flesh:

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church.

Your success is now guaranteed, Eddie. You're welcome.

Ughh...God, they're fucking awful. Right up there with NAMBLA. Not even sure I could bring myself to having my name associated with them. Or enduring the alley whipping I'd get from my Marine buddies if I ever had to send them a dime.

kyleyboy's picture

Nancy pelosi and west boro

HF
(Gorilla, 741
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 11:17am

Nancy pelosi and west boro

I help people with the tough situation of not knowing how to respond to emails.

duffmt6's picture

ANT's super pac.

IB
(Neanderthal, 2,327
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 11:06am

ANT's super pac.

"Social cohesion and puritanical morality place roughly on my list of concerns between whether I'll pick up jock itch at the gym this week (not likely, since I don't go the gym) and whether it'll rain in Christchurch, New Zealand next Tuesday."
-Eddie

TheKing's picture

If not Fred Phelps, than

O
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 11:21am

If not Fred Phelps, than maybe One Million Moms? If you aren't familiar, they are the group that has like 40,000 members that freaks the fuck out when Ellen does advertisements for JCP. That, or NOM, the National Organization for Marriage. You know, the one that crusades to protect "traditional" marriage and is headed up by a particularly monstrous woman who, of course, had a kid out of wedlock.

Check out my WSO Blog

Edmundo Braverman's picture

TheKing: If not Fred Phelps,

ST
(Human, 14,397
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 11:29am
TheKing:

If not Fred Phelps, than maybe One Million Moms? If you aren't familiar, they are the group that has like 40,000 members that freaks the fuck out when Ellen does advertisements for JCP. That, or NOM, the National Organization for Marriage. You know, the one that crusades to protect "traditional" marriage and is headed up by a particularly monstrous woman who, of course, had a kid out of wedlock.

LOL. The problem I have (in particular) with picking a group like these is that they're so ridiculous my friends would just think I was trolling them.

Ron Paul's picture

Kim & Kanye's Pregnancy Fund

 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 11:42am

Kim & Kanye's Pregnancy Fund

TheKing's picture

Edmundo

O
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 11:51am

Check out my WSO Blog

Amphipathic's picture

Muslim brotherhood.

 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 12:02pm
Ranger375's picture

I just tried to sign up and

PE
(Monkey, 63
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 12:08pm
junkbondswap's picture

The day I need a website

(King Kong, 1,724
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 12:29pm
In The Flesh's picture

Edmundo

HF
(Neanderthal, 2,812
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 12:52pm

Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com

https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012

In The Flesh's picture

TheKing: If not Fred Phelps,

HF
(Neanderthal, 2,812
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 12:58pm

Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com

https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012

Edmundo Braverman's picture

junkbondswap: The day I need

ST
(Human, 14,397
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 1:00pm

mongoose's picture

Any way to get rid off gift

O
(King Kong, 1,029
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 2:13pm
ytinifni's picture

The NRA

(Baboon, 103
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 2:19pm

"Pessimism is your friend, euphoria is the enemy."

Going Concern's picture

local church

(King Kong, 1,702
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 3:52pm

And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time

BigSwingingDave's picture

Donate it to the Brady4MVP

 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 3:58pm
Edmundo Braverman's picture

BigSwingingDave: Donate it to

ST
(Human, 14,397
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 4:05pm

Edmundo Braverman's picture

BigSwingingDave: Donate it to

ST
(Human, 14,397
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 4:05pm

Edmundo Braverman's picture

Going Concern: local

ST
(Human, 14,397
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 4:08pm

junkbondswap's picture

Eddie, ouch! Poor Brady.

(King Kong, 1,724
 
Points)
 on 1/2/13 at 11:44am

6 Free Financial Modeling Lessons...Straight to Your Inbox.

Confirm your name and e-mail below to get our best tips

Monkey Stats
Account information
We respect your Name and E-mail privacy. By joining you accept our terms of service.