Based on the ideas in Atomic Habits by James Clear. In particular this page relates to the 4th law: Make it Satisfying.
I’ll update this page as and when conditions change.
Context
I have a pronounced spending habit that I’m working to control and a strong craving for an Eastman 52nd Street Alto sax. The sax costs around £3000.
I resisted the urge to buy the Alto sax on credit as part of a final “farewell to uncontrolled spending” spree in the last months of 2018. The sax craving now provides an aspirational delayed reward for good behaviour through 2019.
Rewards for good habits
- Sax practice
- £1 per 20 minutes of deliberate practice.
- 50p per sax prepped within first hour of waking. Max 2 rewards per day.
- Languages
- £1 per 30 minutes of focused Japanese study.
- £1 per 30 minutes of focused French study.
- Health
- For each run, £1 per km up to 3k. 50p per km after that. Example: a 5k run is worth £4. Max 2 rewards per week.
- £1 for going to sleep before 11.30pm. Must be asleep by 11:30. Must try get back to sleep if awoken during the night. I’d rather forfit the reward in unforeseen circumstances than provide an easy loophole.
- Organisation
- 50p for completing my daily planner before 9am on weekdays.
- 50p for doing planner within an hour of waking at the weekend.
- Work related
- 50p per FreshDesk ticket processed.
- 50p per 30 minutes of additional time worked per day over 7.5 hours. Max 10 extra hours per week. Velocity goal 75%+ .
I pay the sum of accrued rewards into a savings account at the end of each day.
The goal is to pitch rewards so that the sax is achievable in 12-18 months. If I make the financial rewards too high, the payments become unaffordable and it then effectively fuels the habits I’m trying to kick.
I started on 28th December 2018 and earned £28 in the 4 days before new year. At that rate I would earn the sax in just over a year. However, I’ve been on holiday all that time.
Punishments for bad habits
- Spending
- For every non-essential purchase over £20, explain to my partner what it is, why I bought it and give her £5.
Punishments work better than resistance rewards since it is too easy to convince myself that the result of the bad habit (e.g. a purchase) is more appealing than the reward for resisting it.
I’m not sure where to draw the line on non-essential purchases. I want to set the bar low enough to block out all the surprise new-affordable-gadget-missing-from-my-life purchases without feeling completely locked down. We’ll see how this goes.
Contract Changes
1.1.2019
- Unnecessary spending cap reduced from £40 to £20.
- Reduced rewards for running.
- Added reward for prepping saxes in the morning.
2.January.2019
- Reduced weekday daily planner prep reward from £1 to 50p
- Renamed Running category to Health.
- Introduced Health reward for going to sleep (not just being in bed) by 11:30pm.
15.January.2019
29.January.2019
- Added Work reward for working extra hours since I want to start accruing time as a proactive measure against periodic unplanned but unavoidable leave.
- Added Languages section with reward for Japanese study.
4.March.2019
- Added French study in Languages section.
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