What is a commitment contract?

A commitment contract is a written form of commitment device. You state the goal, the deadline, how success is verified, and what happens if you fail. Platforms like stickK formalize this, and FailTax applies a simpler version through challenges with a set FailTax amount.

Can money be used as a commitment device?

Yes. Money is one of the most common commitment devices because it makes the cost of quitting immediate rather than distant. The stake should be affordable to lose and fixed in advance.

How can I create a commitment device for myself?

Choose an objective goal, set a deadline, decide how the result will be verified, and attach a consequence you can't quietly cancel — a stake, a booked commitment, a blocker, or another person who will check.

Do commitment devices work for everyone?

No. Research finds benefits for some people in some contexts, particularly those who already want the goal but keep postponing it. They don't help with goals you don't want, and harsh terms can do more harm than good.

What Is a Commitment Device?

Published September 5, 2026 · Updated September 5, 2026

A commitment device is something you voluntarily set up in advance to make it harder or more costly to abandon a future goal.

The logic is simple. You are more clear-headed about your goal today than you will be at 6am on a cold Tuesday. A commitment device lets today's version of you constrain the choices available to that future version.

What's an example of a commitment device?

Financial stakes: money you lose if you don't do the thing.
Deposits: money handed over in advance and returned on completion.
Public commitments: telling people what you intend to do, so quitting is visible.
Accountability partners: someone whose job is to ask whether you did it.
Website and app blockers: removing the option instead of resisting it.
Pre-scheduled commitments: a booked class or a standing appointment you'd have to cancel.

The classic literary example is Odysseus having himself tied to the mast: he didn't try to resist the sirens, he removed the option to steer toward them.

Why do commitment devices exist?

They exist because people's preferences are inconsistent over time. What you want for next month and what you want right now often disagree, and the version of you standing in the kitchen at 9pm usually wins.

Behavioral economists call this present bias or time-inconsistent preferences. Foundational work includes Thaler and Shefrin's "An Economic Theory of Self-Control" (Journal of Political Economy, 1981) and O'Donoghue and Rabin's "Doing It Now or Later" (American Economic Review, 1999). Field evidence includes Ashraf, Karlan, and Yin's commitment savings study in the Philippines (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2006) and Giné, Karlan, and Zinman's CARES smoking-cessation study (American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2010).

Those studies found meaningful effects for some participants — not universal success. Commitment devices help people who genuinely want the goal and keep undermining themselves. They do nothing for a goal you don't actually want, and they can backfire if the terms are harsh.

Financial commitment devices

A financial commitment device attaches money to the outcome. Its usefulness comes from timing: the reward for exercising arrives in months, while the cost of skipping arrives immediately. Money moves part of the consequence into today.

For this to be reasonable, the stake has to be affordable, the goal has to be objectively verifiable, and the terms have to be fixed in advance. See how to put money on your goals for how to set that up, and what is a financial accountability app for the software category built around it.

What's the difference between accountability and a commitment device?

Accountability is the broader idea: your actions are visible or consequential to someone or something outside your own head. A commitment device is a specific instrument you build in advance to enforce that. Every commitment device creates accountability; not all accountability is pre-committed.

Is FailTax a commitment device?

FailTax applies the commitment-device concept. It is an accountability app that lets people put money on the line for personal goals and challenges: you choose a supported challenge — steps, sleep, exercise, wake-up time, or screen time — and set the FailTax amount charged if you miss.

The commitment is made before the challenge starts, and the outcome is settled by data such as Apple Health, connected wearables, or device screen-time reporting rather than by self-reporting. You are only charged if you fail; succeeding costs nothing.

A commitment device is a tool, not a cure. If a goal is unrealistic or unsafe, adjust the goal instead of adding a penalty to it.

Ready to pre-commit instead of hoping? Set your first FailTax and lock the terms in while you still mean it.

Set Your 1st FailTax

FAQ

What is a commitment device?: A commitment device is an arrangement you set up in advance that makes it harder or more costly to abandon a future goal — for example a financial stake, a deposit, a public promise, or an app that blocks a distraction.
What is a commitment contract?: A commitment contract is a written form of commitment device. You state the goal, the deadline, how success is verified, and what happens if you fail. Platforms like stickK formalize this, and FailTax applies a simpler version through challenges with a set FailTax amount.
Can money be used as a commitment device?: Yes. Money is one of the most common commitment devices because it makes the cost of quitting immediate rather than distant. The stake should be affordable to lose and fixed in advance.
How can I create a commitment device for myself?: Choose an objective goal, set a deadline, decide how the result will be verified, and attach a consequence you can't quietly cancel — a stake, a booked commitment, a blocker, or another person who will check.
Do commitment devices work for everyone?: No. Research finds benefits for some people in some contexts, particularly those who already want the goal but keep postponing it. They don't help with goals you don't want, and harsh terms can do more harm than good.