How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

Added Cost

Techniques > Willpower > Desisting > Added Cost

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

Make something you want to stop doing more costly in some way. This can include monetary cost, inconvenience or physical effort.

To add financial cost, pay more or add things that will cost you more.
To cause inconvenience, add extra actions that take up time and are perhaps irritating.
To create physical effort, insert activities that require walking, carrying, lifting and so on.

Example

A person who is trying to give up smoking only buys cigarettes from one shop on the other side of town, and then only one packet at a time.

A person who spends too much when shopping decides to walk to town, which is two miles away. This also means they have to carry anything they buy back home again.

Someone who is trying to give up drinking only drinks when they are buying a round of drinks for everyone.

Discussion

The cost of living is a burden for most of us and making something more expensive will likely make us re-think and cut down on that costly thing.

If financial cost is too unpalatable, then it can be easier to just add some form of inconvenience. Make it difficult to do what you are trying to stop. Inject time into the process, making things take longer. Make things more complicated.

This method needs determination to enact the costly additional behavior. One way of achieving this is by telling someone else you are doing it and asking them to check up on you.