50. Want to make a habit stick? Find a stick

This post marks a halfway point in my 100 Naked Words challenge. There’s been a lot of challenging moments coming this far and I am pretty proud for making it to day 50.
I’ve never been someone who’s good at sticking to something. I get all excited in the beginning but I tend to lose motivation half way and would call it quits.
I went through the same thing with this project. I was very pumped in the beginning. I would write and post every single day. But a few weeks in, I started running out of ideas, more commitments took priority and my motivation started fizzling out. Soon after, I started skipping days.
When I hit 3 days of skipping my writing, I knew I had to do something. I didn’t want this to be just another project that I abandon halfway.
So I got myself an accountability buddy. Now, this is not anything new. I have done this a couple times. But what’s always missing in my system is the stick. When it comes to self-initiating something, there needs to be a powerful force that pushes us to continue. And having someone to check on me is not powerful enough.
I could have gone with carrots but studies have shown that humans are more motivated by potential loss than potential reward. So I went with the stick.
I made an agreement with my accountability buddy to pay him $20 for each day I didn’t publish my writing. And the result has been incredibly effective. This is the 11th day I’ve been back writing back-to-back consecutively. Every day I would just be thinking about that $20 that I might lose. I could have spent it on a good meal, a nice wine or an Uber ride home. It’s quit a big sum and I don’t want to waste it when I know that I can prevent it. And this thought just keeps hounding me, in a positive way, to produce my post night after night.
After many abortive attempts of implementing a new habit, I think I’ve finally cracked the secret to making it stick. Find a stick.
