I was delighted to see one of my favorite productivity motivation techniques called out in Cal Newport’s latest book, Slow Productivity. Committing publicly to deliver results on a schedule creates accountability that forces you to focus. You now face consequences if you do not make good on your promise. Most of the time all you are wagering is “social capital”. This is a fancy way of saying that you will embarrass yourself if you fail. Embarrassment is far from the worst fate you can face, but it is bad enough that you will want to avoid it. When you commit to a schedule, you also commit to face the anxiety that you might fail. While anxiety isn’t fun, the tradeoff is the motivation it gives you to push yourself to deliver what you promised. It is much easier to prioritize when not doing so has tangible consequences.
Here are a few examples where I put this into practice recently:
📚 Post the books I read every month.
You better believe I don’t want to show up at the end of the month with nothing to say.
🗣️Sign up for a presentation a week out with no slides on a book I hadn’t read.
I wanted to push myself to read and synthesize information on a tight schedule.
👩✈️Start a pilot program without a fully detailed plan.
You can waste a lot of time trying to make everything perfect and things often turn out differently when you actually get started.
✒️Write down a development plan.
Even if only you or you and a few others see it, your goals and commitments are there in writing, holding you accountable to your words.