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When making a tool from text like this, the lesson is useful. Maybe include it at the end of the tool, or it goes somewhere else entirely?
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Deadlines are time limits for certain tasks, often made impactful by a punishment for missing them. The strongest deadlines have punishments that feel world-shattering, such as failing a university module or missing an important flight.
Deadlines encourage action. They can act as incredibly strong motivators, and can even surpass typical energy constraints, if the punishment is potent enough.
It is possible to create personal deadlines, but it’s difficult to make them stick the same way that social and work deadlines do. This is usually because of the punishment. It’s easy to say “If I fail, I have to do 20 push ups” or “I have to talk to a random girl”, but these are weak, because they’re secretly good things. Getting exercise and social experience are good things, they’re just difficult.
A true punishment that instils fear should be one that is irredeemable. Something that feels genuinely bad, involves loss, or similar. This initially sounds too extreme, but the idea is that it never has to happen if you stick to the deadline. Punishments like giving away money, throwing away perfectly good food or items - if it makes you destroy something you love, you will be so opposed to doing it that energy will be surpassed. Combining this with Faith can make it even more potent. This also works better than punishments like hurting yourself or preventing yourself from enjoying a treat, since those are spiteful and only last a short duration, but having to throw away something has a long-lasting effect.
It’s important to note that this shouldn’t be used for everything. Where possible, systems and habits should be used to make things easy. But when action is needed, deadlines can get the job done.
One bypass that may occur is simply skipping the punishment when the time comes, since you’re the only one that is enforcing it. However, if you mention the activity to others, you introduce social pressure that will hold you to keeping your word.
Ideally, the punishment should never happen. But life is spontaneous, and getting accidentally locked into a punishment like this is something that should be avoided. To do this, an Exit Condition can be used, which briefly defines the scenario that allows you to bypass the punishment, such as an unpredictable event or emergency.