Commitment device

A commitment device is a tool or mechanism for increasing the cost of failing a task or project that one would otherwise not be sufficiently incentivised to follow through on. The increased pain of failure that a commitment device enforces is intended to make failure even less desirable than the effort that is needed to achieve the goal.

Examples

• According to legend, Cortés burned his ships when he arrived in America. This prevented his men from abandoning the mission by using the ships to sail away again, thus forcing them to stay and fight.
• Beeminder is a service that will charge you money if you don't keep up with your goals.
• Some people have publicly pledged to donate large amounts of money to organisations they dislike in case of failure on a goal.