11 Commitment Devices That Help You Stick to Goals: Gamify Your Accountability Strategy

When Willpower Runs Out, Architecture Takes Over

Commitment devices help you stick to goals by making failure costly before temptation arrives. You set a goal, you mean it, and for a few weeks you follow through. Then motivation fades. The goal that mattered becomes optional. You rationalize why this time is different, why you can start again next Monday. Research shows this pattern reflects present bias – the tendency to overvalue immediate comfort and undervalue future benefits [1]. The problem is not your commitment in the moment; the problem is your future self’s ability to abandon that commitment when willpower runs low. Commitment devices solve this by binding your hands in advance, making it harder for your future self to betray your current intentions. These voluntary constraints transform goal-setting from a willpower contest into a design challenge.

What You Will Learn

• How the Pre-Commitment Framework organizes commitment devices into four categories based on psychological mechanism
• Three social commitment devices that leverage reputation, identity, and accountability relationships
• Three financial commitment devices that harness loss aversion through deposits, stakes, and locked funds
• Three environmental and planning devices that manipulate surroundings and create automatic behaviors
• Two gamification devices that tap into progress visibility, competition, and mastery motivation
• How to match commitment devices to your specific goal type and personal motivation style

Key Takeaways

• The Pre-Commitment Framework organizes commitment devices into four categories – social, financial, environmental, and gamification – each activating different psychological mechanisms to create follow-through.
• Financial deposit contracts where participants risk their own money outperform bonus-only designs, demonstrating that loss aversion is a more powerful motivator than potential gain [2].
• Public and specific commitments outperform private vague promises because social identity and reputation create stakes beyond self-promise [3].
• Implementation intentions – specific if-then plans – substantially increase goal attainment by creating automatic mental links between situations and behaviors [4].
• Gamified interventions produce small-to-medium increases in physical activity when they include meaningful progress feedback and social elements [5].
• Device intensity should match goal difficulty: start with soft devices like tracking and accountability partners, add financial stakes only if softer approaches fail [6].
• Commitment devices remain underused despite growing evidence they improve health behaviors, financial decisions, and goal adherence across diverse populations [6].

The Pre-Commitment Framework: Four Mechanisms That Create Follow-Through

The Pre-Commitment Framework organizes commitment devices into four categories based on their primary psychological mechanism. This framework synthesizes research across behavioral economics [7], behavioral psychology [6], and health behavior change literature [2] to explain why different devices work for different people.

Social mechanisms create follow-through pressure through reputation, identity, and accountability relationships. When you make a public pledge or partner with someone who checks your progress, failure becomes socially costly. Public pledges, accountability partners, and written contracts fall into this category.

Financial mechanisms harness loss aversion – the psychological tendency to feel losses approximately twice as strongly as equivalent gains [1]. Deposit contracts, financial stakes, and locked funds work because the fear of losing money outweighs the discomfort of doing the work.

Environmental mechanisms manipulate physical and digital surroundings to make desired behaviors easier and undesired behaviors harder. Rather than relying on willpower to resist temptation, environmental design removes the temptation entirely or makes the right choice the default.

Gamification mechanisms tap into intrinsic motivators like mastery, progress visibility, and competition. Points, streaks, badges, and leaderboards make goal pursuit feel like a game where progress itself becomes rewarding.

Most effective commitment systems combine mechanisms from multiple categories. A person trying to exercise regularly might use a streak-tracking app (gamification), tell their partner about the goal (social), and leave running shoes by the door (environmental). Each mechanism reinforces the others.

Social Commitment Devices: Leveraging Reputation and Relationships

Social commitment devices work because humans care deeply about how others perceive them. Breaking a promise to yourself feels different from breaking a promise witnessed by others.

1. Public Pledges

A public pledge is a specific, verifiable commitment announced to an audience whose opinion matters to you. Research shows that public and specific commitments produce significantly better outcomes than private or vague promises [3].

How it works: Once you announce a goal publicly, your social identity becomes linked to that goal. Failure means explaining yourself to others, which activates reputation protection instincts.

Implementation steps:

1. Define your goal with specific, measurable criteria (not “get healthier” but “walk 8,000 steps daily for 30 days”)
2. Choose an audience whose respect you value – colleagues, friends, social media followers, or a community group
3. Announce the specific commitment with a clear deadline
4. Provide regular progress updates to maintain accountability
5. Report the outcome honestly, whether success or failure

Best for: Reputation-motivated people, goals where social identity matters, commitments you genuinely intend to keep.

Watch out for: Public pledges can backfire if stakes feel overwhelming or if the goal proves unrealistic. Start with smaller commitments to build credibility.

2. Accountability Partners

An accountability partner is someone who regularly checks your progress, asks hard questions, and creates micro-deadlines between larger milestones. Unlike public pledges that create one-time pressure, accountability partners provide ongoing structure.

How it works: Knowing someone will ask “did you do it?” changes behavior. The relationship creates both social pressure and practical support, combining external motivation with problem-solving assistance.

Implementation steps:

1. Choose a partner who will actually follow up – not someone who will let you off the hook
2. Establish a regular check-in schedule (daily texts, weekly calls, or meeting in person)
3. Define what you will report: specific metrics, not vague feelings
4. Create reciprocity – become their accountability partner for a goal they have
5. Agree on what happens when one person misses a commitment

Best for: People who need external structure, goals requiring sustained effort over time, anyone who tends to abandon goals when unsupported. For a deeper exploration of partner selection and communication strategies, see our guide on accountability partner strategies.

Watch out for: Choose partners who balance support with honest challenge. Partners who only sympathize without pushing you forward provide comfort but not accountability.

3. Written Contracts

A written contract formalizes commitment through explicit terms, signatures, and often witnesses. The act of signing creates psychological weight that verbal promises lack.

How it works: Formalization activates consistency motivation – the drive to behave in ways consistent with documented positions. Adding a witness amplifies social stakes.

Implementation steps:

1. Write specific terms: what you will do, by when, how success will be measured
2. Include consequences for failure and rewards for success
3. Have at least one witness sign the contract
4. Post the contract somewhere visible
5. Review the contract at regular intervals

Best for: Structure-oriented people, formal agreements between partners or groups, commitments requiring specific milestones.

Watch out for: Overly rigid contracts create stress when life circumstances change. Include review clauses for legitimate adjustments.

Financial Commitment Devices: Harnessing Loss Aversion

Financial commitment devices work because humans experience losses more intensely than equivalent gains – a phenomenon called loss aversion [1]. A randomized trial found that financial incentive programs produce significantly greater short-term behavior change than no-incentive controls, with deposit contracts outperforming bonus-only designs [2].

“Deposit contracts where participants risk their own money outperform bonus-only designs, suggesting that loss aversion is a powerful motivator for behavior change.” [2]

4. Financial Stakes

Financial stakes involve putting money at risk that you forfeit upon failure. Services like Beeminder and StickK facilitate these arrangements by holding deposits and distributing them according to commitment outcomes.

How it works: The threat of losing money creates immediate emotional stakes that counteract present bias. Tomorrow’s discomfort becomes today’s anxiety.

Implementation steps:

1. Choose a stake amount that stings but does not threaten financial stability (typically $25-$100 per week)
2. Define clear, verifiable success criteria
3. Set a specific time period (4-6 weeks is a good starting point)
4. Designate where forfeited money goes – a charity you dislike can increase motivation
5. Arrange verification – self-reporting works for some people, but referee verification is stronger

Best for: Loss-averse individuals, goals with clear daily or weekly metrics, people who have tried softer approaches without success.

Watch out for: Stakes that are too high create anxiety that undermines performance. Start small and increase only if needed.

5. Deposit Contracts

Deposit contracts lock money away until a goal is achieved, creating illiquidity that removes the option to spend funds on other things. Unlike simple financial stakes, deposit contracts often return money upon success rather than forfeiting it upon failure.

How it works: Illiquidity changes the mental accounting of money. Funds in a locked account feel different from funds in a checking account, even when the total is identical.

Implementation steps:

1. Open a separate savings account with restricted access
2. Set up automatic transfers that move money before you can spend it
3. Define the unlock conditions – specific goal achievement, not just time passage
4. Consider using apps like Qapital or your bank’s goal-setting features
5. Make withdrawal require friction – no debit card, multi-day processing

Best for: Financial savings goals, people who spend money impulsively, goals where the reward is the money itself.

Watch out for: Emergencies happen. Build in force-majeure clauses for genuine crises.

6. Anti-Charity Stakes

Anti-charity stakes designate forfeited money to an organization you actively oppose. This intensifies loss aversion because failure funds something you find distasteful.

How it works: The emotional cost of supporting an opposing cause exceeds the simple financial loss. StickK popularized this approach by allowing users to designate rival sports teams or political organizations.

Implementation steps:

1. Choose an anti-charity that genuinely motivates avoidance (not just mild dislike)
2. Arrange automatic donation upon verified failure
3. Tell someone about the arrangement to add social stakes
4. Use a third party to hold and distribute funds

Best for: Highly competitive or ideological people, goals where standard financial stakes have not worked.

Watch out for: This approach works best when the anti-charity is distasteful but not so extreme that the arrangement feels unethical to maintain.

Environmental and Planning Devices: Designing Your Surroundings

Environmental and planning devices work by changing the context in which decisions occur rather than relying on willpower to overcome context. These devices recognize that behavior is heavily influenced by defaults, friction, and environmental cues.

7. Environmental Design

Environmental design involves modifying physical and digital surroundings to make desired behaviors easier and undesired behaviors harder. This approach treats willpower as a limited resource that should not be wasted on decisions that can be pre-made.

How it works: Friction – the amount of effort required to perform an action – dramatically affects behavior. Small increases in friction reduce undesired behaviors; small decreases increase desired behaviors. For a broader exploration of how environment shapes habits, see our guide on environmental design for better habits.

Implementation steps:

1. Identify the friction points in your desired behavior (Where do you stop? What makes it hard?)
2. Remove obstacles: leave running shoes by the door, prep healthy meals in advance, keep books visible
3. Add friction to undesired behaviors: delete apps, use website blockers, store temptations out of sight
4. Set defaults to favor desired outcomes: automatic savings transfers, scheduled workout times in calendar
5. Redesign physical spaces to support goals: dedicated workspace, exercise equipment visible

Best for: Everyone – environmental design is foundational for any goal. Particularly effective for daily habits, reducing temptation, and creating automatic behaviors.

Watch out for: Environmental changes only work if you actually change the environment. Buying a standing desk but never using it does nothing.

8. Temptation Bundling

Temptation bundling pairs an unpleasant task with an immediate reward, making the behavior itself more enjoyable. Research by Milkman et al. found that bundling exercise with audiobook access significantly increased gym attendance [8].

How it works: The immediate reward counteracts the immediate displeasure of the task, making present-moment experience positive rather than negative.

Implementation steps:

1. Identify tasks you avoid (exercise, administrative work, cleaning)
2. Identify pleasures you enjoy but could restrict (podcasts, TV shows, treats)
3. Create exclusive pairings: this pleasure ONLY during this task
4. Enforce the restriction – no audiobook except at the gym
5. Experiment with different pairings to find what works

Best for: Repetitive tasks that feel boring, exercise, commuting, household chores.

Watch out for: The pleasure must remain exclusive to the task. If you start listening to the audiobook at other times, the bundling effect disappears.

9. Implementation Intentions

Implementation intentions are specific if-then plans that link situations to automatic behaviors. Research shows that forming implementation intentions substantially increases goal attainment [4].

How it works: The if-then format creates a mental link between a cue and a response, bypassing the need for conscious decision-making. When the situation occurs, the behavior becomes automatic.

Implementation steps:

1. Identify the specific behavior you want to perform
2. Identify a consistent cue that will trigger the behavior (time, location, preceding event)
3. Create an if-then statement: “If [cue], then I will [specific behavior]”
4. Write the statement down and review it daily
5. Rehearse the link mentally to strengthen the association

Examples:

• “If I finish my morning coffee, then I will write for 30 minutes.”
• “If I arrive home from work, then I will change into workout clothes immediately.”
• “If I feel the urge to check social media, then I will take three deep breaths first.”

Best for: Building automatic habits, overcoming procrastination, creating consistent routines. Implementation intentions work particularly well when paired with the strategies in our guide on habit formation techniques.

Watch out for: Implementation intentions work best for behaviors you genuinely intend to perform. They cannot force motivation that does not exist.

Gamification Devices: Progress, Competition, and Mastery

Gamification devices apply game design elements to goal pursuit. A meta-analysis found that gamified interventions produce small-to-medium increases in physical activity, with effects varying based on which game elements are used [5].

10. Streak Tracking (The Seinfeld Strategy)

Streak tracking involves marking consecutive days of completed behavior on a calendar, creating visible chains that become psychologically powerful. The technique is sometimes called the Seinfeld Strategy because comedian Jerry Seinfeld reportedly used it to write daily.

How it works: Once a streak reaches a certain length, the desire to not break it becomes a powerful motivator. The visual representation of progress creates both pride and protective anxiety.

Implementation steps:

1. Choose a daily habit that can be performed every day (even weekends)
2. Get a physical calendar or use an app that displays streaks
3. Mark each completed day with an X
4. Place the calendar somewhere visible
5. Set a rule: never break the chain for two days in a row (one miss is recovery, two is a new pattern)

Best for: Daily habits, behaviors that benefit from consistency, people motivated by visual progress.

Watch out for: Rigid streak requirements can feel punishing after a single miss. Build in recovery rules rather than all-or-nothing thinking.

11. Gamification Systems (Points, Badges, Leaderboards)

Gamification systems use game mechanics like points, badges, levels, and leaderboards to make goal pursuit engaging. Apps like Habitica turn task completion into role-playing game progression; fitness apps create competitions among friends.

How it works: Game elements tap into intrinsic motivators – mastery (getting better), autonomy (choosing how to play), and social connection (competing or cooperating with others).

Implementation steps:

1. Choose an app or system that matches your goal type (fitness, productivity, habit building)
2. Set up meaningful rewards – points that unlock something, not just arbitrary numbers
3. Join or create social features – leaderboards, challenges, teams
4. Focus on progress feedback, not just completion
5. Treat gamification as scaffolding during habit formation, not a permanent requirement

Best for: Competition-driven people, goals with daily metrics, tech-savvy users who enjoy apps.

Watch out for: Gamification can become an end in itself, where players optimize for points rather than genuine progress. Ensure game metrics align with real-world outcomes.

Matching Devices to Your Goal Type

Different goals benefit from different commitment devices. This matching table helps you select the right starting point:

Goal Type	Recommended Devices	Example	Watch Out For
One-time project	Deposit contract, accountability partner, written contract	Finish thesis in 4 months	High stakes can create anxiety if timeline unrealistic
Daily habit	Streak tracking, temptation bundling, environmental design	Meditate 10 minutes daily	Rigid streaks feel punishing after one miss
Health/fitness	Financial stakes, gamified apps, accountability groups	Walk 8,000 steps daily	Weight fluctuates; verify with trends, not daily numbers
Skill development	Gamification, public pledges, temptation bundling	Conversational Spanish in 1 year	Skill gains are nonlinear; plateaus feel discouraging
Financial goal	Deposit contracts, automated transfers, accountability partner	Emergency fund in 12 months	Illiquidity causes problems if emergencies arise early
Long-term career	Written contract, milestone deposits, coaching	Career transition in 2 years	Long timelines need milestone cycles, not one giant contract

Start with one device. If after four weeks you are not maintaining 80 percent adherence, add a second device from a different category rather than increasing stakes on the first. For frameworks on how to set these goals effectively in the first place, explore our guide on goal setting frameworks.

Common Mistakes When Using Commitment Devices

Mistake	Why It Hurts	How to Fix
Stakes too high too fast	Creates panic, not motivation	Start with stakes that sting but do not threaten stability
Vague or unmeasurable goals	“Get healthier” cannot be verified	Specify “walk 8,000 steps per day”
Devices mismatched to motivation style	Public pressure may trigger shame, not action	Test what actually motivates you before scaling up
Too many commitments at once	Spreads attention thin, guarantees failure	Focus on one or two goals at a time
No exit plan for life changes	Medical emergency makes commitment impossible	Build in review points and force-majeure clauses
All stick, no carrot	Punishment without rewards becomes exhausting	Pair consequences with celebrations for milestones

My recommendation: start with the lowest-stakes device you think might work, run a genuine four-week experiment, and actually track whether it changed your behavior. The goal is not to find the most impressive commitment device. The goal is to find the one that actually gets you to do the thing. For me, that is a conversation with someone who will remember what I said.

Conclusion

Commitment devices transform goal-setting from a willpower contest into an architectural challenge. By voluntarily constraining future choices before temptation arrives, the Pre-Commitment Framework enables present motivation to bind future behavior through social accountability, financial stakes, environmental design, and gamification mechanisms. The eleven devices in this guide offer different paths to the same destination: making the right choice easier than the wrong choice. The most reliable way to keep a promise to your future self is to make breaking it expensive, embarrassing, or inconvenient in the present.

Next 10 Minutes

• Identify one goal where you have struggled with follow-through and select a commitment device from this guide that matches your motivation style
• Tell one person about a specific goal you are working on to create immediate social accountability
• Remove one friction barrier or add one environmental cue that makes your target behavior easier to start

This Week

• Set up a simple streak tracker for one daily habit you want to establish
• Schedule a weekly check-in with an accountability partner to review your commitment device performance
• Define specific, measurable success criteria for your goal so you can verify whether your commitment device is working
• Create one implementation intention using the if-then format for a behavior you want to make automatic

There is More to Explore

Commitment devices work best when paired with a broader understanding of goal psychology and habit formation. These complementary resources help you strengthen the foundations that make commitment devices effective:

• Accountability Partner Strategies – detailed guidance on finding, structuring, and maintaining accountability relationships
• Habit Formation Techniques – the science of building automatic behaviors that reduce reliance on willpower
• Goal Setting Frameworks – proven systems for defining goals worth committing to
• Cognitive Biases That Derail Goals – understanding the mental traps that commitment devices help you avoid

Frequently Asked Questions

Glossary of Key Terms

References

[1] Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263-291.

[2] Volpp, K. G., John, L. K., Troxel, A. B., et al. (2008). A randomized controlled trial of financial incentives for weight loss. JAMA, 300(22), 2631-2637. DOI

[3] Coupe, N., Peters, S., Rhodes, S., & Cotterill, S. (2019). The effect of commitment-making on weight loss and behaviour change. BMC Public Health, 19, 816. DOI

[4] Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54(7), 493-503. DOI

[5] Mazeas, A., Duclos, M., Pereira, B., & Chalabaev, A. (2022). Evaluating the Effectiveness of Gamification on Physical Activity: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. J Med Internet Res, 24(1), e26779. DOI

[6] Rogers, T., Milkman, K. L., & Volpp, K. G. (2014). Commitment Devices: Using Initiatives to Change Behavior. JAMA, 311(20), 2065-2066. DOI

[7] Bryan, G., Karlan, D., & Nelson, S. (2010). Commitment Devices. Annual Review of Economics, 2, 671-698. DOI

[8] Milkman, K. L., Minson, J. A., & Volpp, K. G. (2014). Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling. Management Science, 60(2), 283-299. DOI