Reverse Bets Anyone?!
12 weeks. 5 tasks. Let’s do this.
Very often, we know what we need to do. So why don’t we do it?
I’m not actually going to go in on the answer to that (maybe in a future post), but let’s talk about one way to hack that and crush our goals.
At the beginning of the new year, my buddy Max and I were discussing some of our goals for this year. Some of them were pretty insane, and we wanted to find a way to hold each other accountable and absolutely demolish those goals. We decided to set out and do a reverse bet together.
What is a reverse bet?
A reverse bet is basically a way to scare the crap out of ourselves so that we do what we know we need to do.
There are 3 main parts of a reverse bet:
- A timeframe or duration of the bet — basically your deadline
- A list of tasks that you need to accomplish (usually things you have been putting off or don’t want to do, but know that you need to)
- A seriously negative outcome
Essentially a reverse bet is taking a very negative outcome and setting it as the consequence for not following through on a specific action, task, etc.
Here are the details of my bet.
My Timeframe
12 weeks
1/9/17–4/2/17
My action items
1x / week Blog post
3x / week Facebook Live Streams
3x / day Instagram posts on LGE account
3x / week Instagram posts on personal account
1x / day Polish Lesson on Pimsleur
When we started, I only had 3 tasks. I actually didn’t have the personal Instagram posts or polish lesson as part of the bet. I found I wasn’t pushing my limits enough, so I added those in after the first week.
My consequence
Send a large sum of money to the Dallas Cowboys.
I’m a born and raised diehard NY Giants fan, so that should explain why this would absolutely SUCK for me... The check is already written and mailed to Max, so I can’t turn back now!
The best part about this bet in my opinion is that I have a TON going on during this time period. I’ll be traveling / spending time in 5 different states, including 2 trips by plane and one by bus, AND I’ll be getting hernia surgery. In some weird way, this gets me extremely fired up because I know I’m really going to be put to the test.
Btw — if you want to check out the details of Max’s bet, you can do so here.
I’m Curious
Have you ever done a reverse bet? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear what has worked well for you guys.
And if you’ve never done one before, I HIGHLY suggest you give it a try. This bet has forced me so far out of my comfort zone and I’m loving it.
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