I recently wrote about Beeminder here, and talked about how much I liked it to help keep me on track. That is all still true.
Unfortunately, technology can't always overcome human flaws. You see, in spite of Beeminder, I missed my commitment to post here at least 4 times per month and wandered off my yellow brick road.
What happened?
I could make any number of excuses - I got busy, I didn't have a good idea for a post, I was tired, I was on vacation, etc. (all of which are true, but irrelevant).
Basically, I decided to procrastinate when I could've taken a few minutes do write something, or I couldn't planned ahead and written posts early & scheduled them, etc. In other words, I didn't take proper responsibility for my commitment and didn't hold myself accountable. It happens.
What am I going to do about it?
I have paid my pledge of $5 to Beeminder, reset my graph, and am back on the horse trying to meet my commitment of at least 4 posts per month through the end of the year. And this time, it will cost me $10 if I miss my commitment again.
You know, this made me realize another benefit of Beeminder: consequences are making me get back to my commitment sooner. Prior to Beeminder, I could've been a slacker for any length of time and nobody would have known - there is some benefit in a public scoreboard. If you want to watch my progress, check out my current graph to see how I'm doing.