Beeminder: Getting Back on the Horse
After deleting corporate social media, I'm returning to Beeminder, a commitment tool that charges you money for failing to complete tasks, to reclaim my productivity. I explain how Beeminder works through externalizing willpower, share my current 17 goals across personal development, learning, creative work, and productivity, and integrations that make it seamless.
t's been just over a week since I [deleted all my corporate social media accounts](https://brennan.day/a-full-guide-to-properly-delete-corporate-social-media-accounts/) and, honestly? I've been loving the quiet and lack of notifications and decreased screen time. I'm sure I'm missing out on things, but those are not things I care about. What I care about is writing here, for you! This is exactly what I was talking about when I was writing about figuring out what [juice is worth the squeeze](https://brennan.day/is-the-juice-worth-the-squeeze/) in life.
But then the question arises: what do I do with all this newfound free time in the heat of these dog days of summer? There are many options, the most sensible being to just do more of the work I've been slacking on, such as [craft.wang](https://craft.wang) or [folk.zone](https://folk.zone).
But why be sensible when I can procrastinate in other, more interesting ways instead? (I jest, as what I'm going to explain will actually make me far more productive in the long-run, don't worry.)
## Productivity that Stings!
Most of you probably aren't aware, but I'm a [Beeminder](https://beeminder.com) superuser. I've been using the site for many years, and wrote [two guest](https://blog.beeminder.com/tao/) [blog posts](https://blog.beeminder.com/tao2/) for the company all the way back in... 2017. Nine years ago? Oh goodness. <small>I also have [a Beeminder tattoo](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/temporary-bee-tatoo/9848/7?u=brennanbrown), if you needed more proof I'm unhinged.</small>
Actually, I'm probably getting ahead of myself here. What even is Beeminder? Well, it's a commitment tool—a platform that allows you to externalize your willpower so you do the tasks you know you ought to do. They use the term [Akrasia](https://blog.beeminder.com/akrasia/), which can be understood as the want to want. You want to be the kind of person that effortlessly wants to do the hard but necessary work, but you know reality differs.
The way Beeminder pushes you to do the hard but necessary work is simple: you're charged money if you fail to complete the tasks you set.
Now, this is where I instantly lose nearly everyone I talk to about Beeminder. I'm often asked the same questions: The company is paid by your failures, isn't that kind of evil? Why wouldn't you just do a chargeback anytime you failed?
And I can understand the initial visceral reaction and counterargument here. Beeminder is for a particular kind of person: Somebody who is not motivated enough by small rewards or self-discipline alone, yet also somebody who is still not satisfied with living a life lacking hard work.
For me, personally, Beeminder has been the only thing that's worked. Here's my testimonial. It has been a Godsend for me to get my shit togeth
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