“Taking a long-term view I know I shouldn’t eat that. Still, the damage from eating it this particular time is miniscule and the benefit of eating it, here and now, is huge (it’s delicious). So I eat it. Unfortunately I apply that reasoning every time. It’s like a procrastinator who says ‘one more minute can’t hurt’. Technically and literally true but if you say that every minute forever, you have a problem. I have that kind of problem.” — Anonymous
Beeminder solves that kind of problem. Being bound by a Beeminder contract brings the long-term consequences near.
I, Melanie Reeves Wicklow, will stay on these Yellow Brick Roads every day until I reach my goal or forfeit $600.00 per road. The width of the Road is constructed so that if I’m in the correct lane today then I’m guaranteed not to lose tomorrow (see more in the fine print about this). If I’m in the wrong lane, it’s panic time: I’m facing a real risk of going off the road the following day and forfeiting my money. In this way my long-term goal is broken down into something I’m forced to work towards gradually every day. The point is to replace the long-term negative consequences (of failing to reach the long-term goal) with immediate negative consequences for not staying on track towards the goal each day. In general, I promise to abide by the spirit of this commitment and not weasel or abuse loopholes.
The winners of this contract are shown at http://beeminder.com/bidder
The point of this fine print is certainly not to trick you. Quite the opposite: the rules and provisions have evolved to iron out the ambiguities and address the special cases that have come up in previous commitment contracts. The point is to have unambiguous daily guidance without ever letting anyone lose on a technicality.
We’re labeling these clauses with three-letter codes so it’s easier to rearrange them and insert new ones. Clauses are of two basic types: clarifications (nailing down things like exactly what constitutes being on or off the road) and exemptions (scenarios where you get your money back despite going off your road). Note that exemptions must be claimed before you actually go off the road, except for the clause labeled MEA.
WID. For weight loss, each lane of the Road is set to be as wide as the maximum recent 1-day difference in your weights.
This means that if you’re in your right (bottom) lane today then it’s literally impossible for you to go off your road tomorrow. (Assuming you report a weight daily.)
That’s because if tomorrow you jump from below the centerline to above the top edge then that jump will redefine the road width such that you are still on the road.
If, however, you’re in the wrong lane then you are in danger of a random fluctuation tomorrow throwing you off the road.
EMR. In committing to your contract we don’t want you to have to factor in the possibility of something quasi-catastrophic happening. If you have a documented trip to the emergency room, you may reset your road when you recover.
INJ. If you get physically injured in a way that makes it unsafe to continue on your Road then you can have an exemption. As always, you can’t wait until after you’re off your road to decide that it qualifies.
MEA. If your graph lies to you, you can claim an exemption, even after the fact.
We’ll amend this clause to spell this out further if it ever happens but in the meantime the spirit of it is probably clear: you can trust what Beeminder is telling you.
If there is some bug or server error that violates that, it’s a legitimate exemption.
We will reset your yellow brick road when the problem is fixed.
Similarly if the Beeminder server is down for more than 6 hours you can, if you choose, claim an exemption.
It’s unlikely that even a whole day of downtime would throw a monkey wrench in your ability to stay on track, but, again, we want you to be able to fully trust and rely on Beeminder.
DAY. With weightloss goals, the automatic width adjustment works for consecutive days.
If you’re in the right lane today and don’t give a number the next day, then the following day it’s possible for you to be off the road.
This is a danger in “driving blind” — you’re not letting Beeminder adjust for random fluctuations.
OFW. For weightloss, the very first reading from your scale in the morning is the official number.
You can choose not to report up to 3 weeks (needed for vacations when you’re without your scale), but on the 22nd day after your last recorded data point, you have to report.
Not reporting at that time will result in loss by default.
The 3 weeks allowance also allows you to let things go a little with plans to work really hard when you return to your scale.
But this is NOT recommended.
It’s in your interest to report as often as possible as this allows Beeminder to reflect your widest road possible, giving you more room to fluctuate without going off the Road.
In any case, it’s not allowed to see your weight but not record it. If you’re using this vacation clause you have to be truly driving blind.
MED. Safety first. You should never feel like you need to compromise your health to avoid a financial loss (that’s one reason we collect the money upfront — it should always be an amount you can afford to lose).
Therefore it is an explicit rule that violation of medical advice is not allowed.
For example, if you’re diabetic it is against the rules to risk a diabetic coma from fasting.