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FAQ - About stickK

What is stickK?

stickK is a free goal-setting platform created by behavioral economists at Yale University. Unlike other goal-setting platforms, our methodology is specifically structured to help people leverage the power of incentives and accountability and is empirically proven to increase people’s chances of success by up to 3x.

How does stickK work?

stickK works by providing people with the tools they need to fight back against human nature. By asking users to define their goal (whatever it is!), pick a timeline to accomplish it, and put something at stake (whether it’s money or their reputation), stickK allows users to create a custom plan-of-action for how they’re going to turn their goal into a reality.

So whether you’d like to lose weight, quit smoking or spend more time with your grandkids, stickK is the go-to goal-setting tool for you.

Is there proof that Commitment Contracts work?

Years of rigorous academic research conducted by the founders of stickK have proven that using Commitment Contracts can more than quintuple your chances of success!

And it makes sense. We all start off wanting to achieve our goal, but most of the time there's simply nothing out there to make us stickK to our word. By entering into a Commitment Contract, backing out on that promise just got a whole lot harder. If drinking a can of soda meant you'd have to fork over $10 to your friend, just about anyone would look for something else to drink.

Why does stickK work? What's the science behind it?

What behavioral science tells us is that we are loss-averse, social animals that make decisions in a time-inconsistent manner. What…? Simply put, we hate losing things and often give into immediate gratification (e.g. eating a donut) at the expense of our long term goals (e.g. losing weight).

The good news is that research has discovered two factors that effectively help people achieve the behavior change they desire: incentives and accountability.

Studies show that financial incentives and accountability get people to do stuff. That’s why stickK works so well—stickK helps its users leverage the power of incentives and accountability and is empirically proven to increase our users’ chances at success by up to three-fold.

Who founded stickK?

stickK was founded by Dean Karlan, an Economics professor at Yale University, Ian Ayres, a Law professor at Yale University and Jordan Goldberg, a student at Yale School of Management.

Click here to learn more about each of them.

What does the second K in "stickK" stand for?

It's about time you asked. The letter "K" is the shorthand symbol for "contract" used in legal writing. Since we offer Commitment Contracts, we felt it appropriate to add that extra "K" in our name.

How do you pronounce "stickK?"

Simple, just like the word "stick."
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