What is Beeminder?

• Why would anyone want to bet money like this?
• Can't I just turn the goal off and go on my merry way?
• What types of goals does Beeminder work for?
• What does the name mean?

Is there anything you want to do, that you can do, that historically you haven't actually done? Working out during lunch breaks, practising piano, stopping smoking, and things like that? Things that are definitely doable, even simple, and yet... you can't get 'em done or quickly fall off the wagon. It's always so tempting to do something fun instead, or find other things that feel more important in the moment.

That's what Beeminder is for. Beeminder lets you create goals like these and pledge money that you'll achieve them this time around. If you don't keep up with your self-defined rate, then you pay!

...And then of course we get your graph back on track, so you have to keep trying. By default, the pledge will escalate each time, but you can set the pledge cap anywhere you're comfortable with, from $5 up.

Why would anyone want to bet money like this?

Well, the simplest reason is: because it works!

Setting up a commitment contract via Beeminder forces you to toe the line at least for a while, so that when/if you do go off track, then the motivation it provided up until that point still seems worth it. If you run for 4 weeks before you fail at your running goal for the first time, well, $5/month is quite a bit cheaper than most gym memberships, just sayin'.

Everything we’ve worked on in building Beeminder has been with the objective of making people succeed. We’d have to be very myopic for it to be otherwise — if Beeminder isn't helping people, they'll stop paying, and we'll be out of business. We want to make money by making you more awesome, and we’re convinced that’s what’s happening. But don’t take our word for it. Try it and see!

And just to be clear: if something just goes wrong and causes you to derail when you haven't failed at your goal, get in touch with us by replying to the legitimacy check email. We don't want you to pay just because of some kind of technicality.

Can't I just turn the goal off and go on my merry way?

Nope! At least... not right away.

After the initial week when you're allowed to delete a new goal, you can only ever quit seven days from when you make the change. That's the akrasia horizon, which helps avoid short-term desires getting in the way of long-term goals. There's no getting out of it on the spur of the moment!

You can always add breaks and adjust your goals if things aren't quite working out, subject to that seven-day wait. You can even set end dates well in advance, if you know when your goal needs to end. Beeminder combines the need for flexibility with the inability to just make decisions on the spur of the moment.

In an emergency, you'd want to contact the support team; we have a whole article about that to discuss at length what happens in that situation, so check it out!

What types of goals does Beeminder work for?

Just about anything! If you can somehow quantify it, you can beemind it.

Goals with obvious numbers and metrics involved work great: workout minutes, calories eaten, hours studied, dollars saved, weight in pounds, miles biked, pages read...

But you can absolutely use Beeminder for "softer", more qualitative goals as well: if you want to "be a nicer person", you might create a goal to "give two compliments per day", for example. "Keep my temper" might be "+1 if I didn't snap at anyone today". Sometimes a proxy metric like time spent on something will do: 30 minutes per day of extra studying, to cover getting homework done.

We've seen a ton of goals over the years, all over the spectrum. If you're having trouble figuring out how to track something, our forum is a great place to hash out ideas.

What does the name mean?

Beeminder reminds you and binds you. It’s Beeminder, the me-binder. It’s reminders with a sting. Mind your goals, and be minded. Oh, and our esteemed co-founder, Bethany Soule, goes by “Bee.” A lot of things!

Keywords: newbees, introduction to Beeminder