Make a big bet to make yourself take action

A good friend of mine asked me how it was going with my blog. (I have another website called How To Be Dapper)

I said it was going okay. I’d hit a plateau of email subscribers and the traffic wasn’t really picking up.

‘What do you need to do to improve it?’ he said.

I needed to make some videos.

‘Why haven’t you done it yet?’

I needed some equipment and to learn how to edit videos.

My reasons as to why I hadn’t done it sounded lame.

I realised I needed some accountability to take action.

I’d read from several sources (Tim Ferriss, Nerd Fitness and Timothy Marc) that sizeable cash bets are powerful motivators.

So I said, ‘How about if I don’t put up a video on my site by the end of the month, then I owe you £500?’

£500 is a lot of money.

I have it but it would hurt to have to cough that up.

He said, ‘Okay but do it by the end of next week.’

I immediately started to backtrack and said two weeks.

He said ‘What would Arnie do? He’d have it done. No excuses.’

Okay. That was convincing.

As I shook his hand, I was excited.

It was exhilarating.

It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I felt the rush of making a commitment.

I immediately started planning how I would execute.

I would need to order the equipment that day to arrive on Amazon Prime next day.

Then write a script.

Then practice and film.

Then edit on iMovie.

Then upload it to YouTube.

Then embed it on my website.

In the end, I uploaded it two days early.

So if you want to take action but find yourself procrastinating, try making a big cash bet, proportionate to your net worth. So you have a lot of money, make it a bigger amount. If you don’t, then adjust accordingly.

Whatever the figure, it should hurt if you don’t execute.

Really sting.

£500 would have been a kick in the balls.

Make the timeframe specific and make it tight.

The shorter the deadline, the better because it forces you to take action today.

If I had to deliver the video in 3 days, I would have had to make it happen.

What do you need help taking action with? Let me know in the comments.