I’m definitely more productive when I’m close to the road’s edge. So much so that I’ve turned on “no mercy” recommits for nearly all of my goals; that week of flatness often breaks my habits. And a lot of my goals have “autoratchet” turned on, so that I can’t build up more than a few days of safety.
That does make it more likely that I’ll derail at some point. And that sucks, though I have a strong suspicion that I get more accomplished because of the strictness than I lose in pledges.
Here’s the thing that I’ve been experimenting with, which isn’t 100% what @chelsea asked for, but might have a similar effect: after N days on track, I can hit the down-pledge arrow
You could interpret this as though I’m trading in my reduced safety-buffer for a reduced-pledge. I haven’t automated this, and I don’t yet know how many days N should be. Feels like a month is too little, and 90 days would be too much. My median derail as of right now seems to have been 53 days ago.
I have it in my head that by reducing pledges periodically on account of good behaviour, each goal will find it’s naturally sustainable pledge value without me having to specify a pledge cap.
We also know that when pledges get too uncomfortably high, folks get more conservative about their commitments. i.e. they stay on the road better, but accomplish less in real life.
@chelsea’s idea adds an extra dimension to that down-pledging. (Thanks!) I’m not storing up safety buffer for a rainy day, but I am making it cheaper to take advantage of a rainy day when one comes along.