How to Coach Yourself and Others Beware of Manipulation | Page 169

58. Commitment Devices
Commitment devices are tricks played on oneself or other people in order to increase commitment to
some action, belief, etc. This can be as creative and extreme as needed -- the only measure is whether
the method is successful.
A classic technique is to make commitment or not visible in some way, for example putting a graph of
you weight or the number of bottles of wine consumed on the wall.
Another method is to make your commitment public, so you will be embarrassed if you break the
commitment. Asking others to check up on you is a similar principle.
Example
Leavitt and Dubner (2007) give the rather gross example of a Los Angeles slimmer who bought lifelike
plastic models of human body fat from a medical-supply company and put them on display in her
kitchen.
'Mutually Assured Destruction' (MAD) is a commitment device that has prevented nuclear war, as any
nuclear power knows that to attack another is to also suffer devastating attack. The principle also
applies in less significant settings.
Why it works
There are many times we want to do something but we fail to do so, from losing weight to completing
college assignments on time. We easily forget, procrastinate or otherwise find excuses not to stick to
commitments.
Commitment devices are methods to help us stick to the commitments we have made, even if they are
just to ourselves.
The basic principle of a commitment device is to make failure to sti 6