Karen Fritsche
March 31, 2008
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If you're one of those people with a habit - we won't succumb to calling it a "bad" habit, but a habit you want to break - maybe you have a better chance if you bet on it. A couple of Yale professors say if you want to succeed, you should bet a lot. Contributor Karen Fritsche put their theory to the test.
Karen Fritsche: I am... a closet smoker. Most of my friends don't know it. I've gotten very good at hiding it. But I'm a sucker for a good cigarette. I smoked as a teenager and all through college, then quit for 10 years. But, after a bad breakup, I was in a bar, and, well, I've been playing with fire ever since. Rough day at work? Bum a smoke. Cat dies? Buy a pack. I tried quitting cold turkey. Tried the 12-step Nicotine Anonymous program. Tried hypnosis. Kept on smoking. Then I talked to Yale professor Dean Karlan. He's a behavioral economist. He looks at why we do what we do, and figures out whether money can change it.
Dean Karlan: We all have our weaknesses. Like I am incredibly disciplined when it comes to work, but when it comes to food, I'm horrible! I love wine, and cheese, and chocolate, and I need to put constraints on my life so that I behave the way I want to behave.
Fritsche: So Karlan and his Yale law professor buddy Ian Ayres started making bets with each other: drop 20 pounds, or lose 500 bucks. They both lost... weight, not money. Now they've launched Stickk.com – that's stick with a C and two K's – so others can create "commitment contracts." Break the habit, or lose the cash. Worth a try! I took out a "quit smoking" contract on myself. To guarantee I'd stay tobacco-free for two weeks, I put up $500... enough to buy a hundred packs of cigarettes. I upped the ante by choosing the National Rifle Association as the group that would get my money if I failed. I'm not a big NRA fan. And I designated my friend Kristin Friedrich as my referee, because she'd love to turn me in if I cheated.
Kristin Friedrich: I am wearing black and white, incidentally, so I feel ready for this job, and I think $500 to the NRA would be so funny and terrible, (laughs) I think this actually might work.
Fritsche: Since its January launch, 3,000 people have signed "commitment contracts" on Stickk.com. They're risking more than $100,000. Dean Karlan says the typical commitments are to lose weight, exercise more, or quit smoking. But there are customized goals, too.
Karlan: A lot of time people put on something about healthy eating, like I commit to drinking fewer sodas, I commit to drinking more water, I commit to eating broccoli three days a week, and several about porn. My favorite one on that spectrum was someone who committed to fuck more, watch less porn.
Fritsche: Day One was brutal. My eyes burned. My head throbbed. That night, I found a stray cigarette my ref had neglected to destroy. It had camouflaged itself on my kitchen counter, white on white. God, or maybe Phillip Morris, was testing me. I so failed. For the next day and a half, I battled the temptation to lie to my friends and to the Web site holding my $500 ransom. Ultimately, the truth, and the National Rifle Association, won out.
[Sound of a shotgun]
Friedrich: What are you thinking throwing away cash like that? And because I left it on the counter? I'm a terrible referee, huh?
Fritsche: The worst referee ever refused to help pay my NRA penance. At least it was only $250. I still had a shot at keeping the rest. I became hell-bent to not let it happen again. Twelve days later, Kristin came over to witness my success. I took a disposable nicotine test to prove it. Yep. I peed on a dipstick. I was that proud!
Friedrich: And it's negative! Congratulations. You're not pregnant!
Fritsche: And for a week-and-a-half, I'm not a smoker, either. It's a start. And I have to admit, the money thing helped. Now I'm thinking about other commitments I can make to improve my life, like a lasting relationship. Maybe the guy who's trying to watch less porn wants to hang out. As long as he doesn't like to smoke after, well, you know.
