There are a number of sites that provide more-or-less this service! (except you're paying them if you fail to keep your commitments, not your friend) Examples include StickK, Beeminder and TaskRatchet (full disclosure - I do some part-time support work for Beeminder). Just as you describe, you make a commitment, either a one-time one (paint the bedroom by Friday) or an ongoing one (go to the gym 3x week), and pay up if you fail. Some of them link to independent sources of data (your stepcount on Fitbit), so it's harder to claim you've done something when you actually haven't.
Amen! We've been saying this for years about how bad anti-charities are: https://blog.beeminder.com/anticharity/ (oh dang, that post is over a decade old now)
There are a number of sites that provide more-or-less this service! (except you're paying them if you fail to keep your commitments, not your friend) Examples include StickK, Beeminder and TaskRatchet (full disclosure - I do some part-time support work for Beeminder). Just as you describe, you make a commitment, either a one-time one (paint the bedroom by Friday) or an ongoing one (go to the gym 3x week), and pay up if you fail. Some of them link to independent sources of data (your stepcount on Fitbit), so it's harder to claim you've done something when you actually haven't.
Amen! We've been saying this for years about how bad anti-charities are: https://blog.beeminder.com/anticharity/ (oh dang, that post is over a decade old now)