Tactical Consequences: Accountability's Secret Weapon
If you've read some of my other Perspectives pieces or books, you may be familiar with the first two Foundations of Execution — defining and refining your goals and managing complexity. The final foundation is removing failure from the equation. We'll explore this concept here.
At its most basic, removing failure from the equation requires Accountability. For many, Accountability points inward — holding oneself accountable for your decisions. When you apply this concept to goals, you're talking about self-discipline.
Bluntly, self-discipline doesn’t work. Traditionally, people believe the self-discipline required to execute on a goal should come from within; however, that model has a horrible track record. No matter how much you care about what you’re doing, you’re only human. Once you admit to yourself that you probably won’t be able to will your goal into existence—and that you’re not an exception—it’s time to discuss practical tactics for keeping your eyes on the prize.
Accountability means expanding the scope of failure. It broadens the distress associated with inaction or failure because they cease to be private events; it exposes your desires and progress to others and subjects you to judgment. If you want to learn more about Accountability, I explore it at length in my book, Foundations of Execution, but let’s assume you get the idea. How do we take it to the next level? What tactics can you use to not just make failure more public, but rather truly takes failure out of the equation?
Tactical Consequences
Imagine for a moment that you’d like to lose some body fat (a pretty relatable desire, I imagine). You may decide to eat healthfully and head to the gym each morning. You employ all the right behaviors, create detailed goals and milestones, do a ton or research, organize yourself properly in readily accessible tools, leverage Accountability by telling some friends about your plans and urging them to check in on your progress, and so on.
Good work!
However, when you resolve to do something, you’re at one point in your life (let’s call it Point A). The next morning at 6 a.m., when it’s cold and rainy and your alarm wakes you and reminds you to go to the gym, you’re at a different point (let’s call that Point B). Then, when you’re at work and someone brings donuts in, you’re at yet another point (Point C). Finally, when you’re in a rush and hungry and pass a fast food restaurant with an empty drive-through lane, you’re at another point (Point D).
These are four different people.
Who you are—your consciousness—is what many philosophers and neuroscientists refer to as integrated. You change as you receive and process new information, go through new experiences, and undergo fluctuations in hormone and chemical levels throughout the day. Since your consciousness—which is dynamic—is your sole connection to reality, you’re dynamic. And while core aspects of your personality and memory forge a convincing semblance of continuity, you’re constantly changing into what one could argue are fundamentally different individuals. Due to this, the you that makes a decision is a different person from the you who’s tasked with enforcing it. More importantly, the you who’s tasked with enforcing it is different from the you that will see the benefits (or lack thereof) down the road. When it comes time to do the hard work—to step on the treadmill at 6 a.m. or refrain from indulging in the donut—it’s hard to imagine being the you down the road who would have benefitted from current you’s sacrifice. This isn’t nearly as much of an exaggeration as you may think it is, as science directly supports this perspective’s functional validity. When we think of our future selves, our brains respond as though we’re thinking of an entirely different person[1].
You at Point A had the easiest job of all. Making a decision doesn’t hurt; it’s not work. However, in order to ensure you execute on Point A you’s intentions, Point A you—honorable and idealistic, driven and clear-headed—needs to inflict your will on Points B, C, and D you. This is precisely what Tactical Consequences achieve.
Incidentally, a close friend actually did decide he wanted to lose weight a while ago and had failed at dieting and exercising for years. We were talking about it one night when I suggested a plan. The next time we were hanging out, he handed money over to a mutual friend and made sure I witnessed the exchange. We told our mutual friend that she was to return the money to him only if he had lost a predetermined amount of weight by a certain date. If not, she could keep the money.
Right there, we moved beyond simple accountability and implemented Tactical Consequences. The goal was weight loss; the method was handing over the money and agreeing to the terms; and the Tactical Consequence was losing the money. To be sure it would work, though, we made some additions that would cause additional distress:
To his wallet — My friend was gainfully employed, so if the consequence was only five dollars, the risk of losing it most likely wouldn’t generate proper incentive. It was important that he handed over enough money that it would be worth his while to follow through.
To his sense of ethics — If he failed to lose the weight, he could take solace in the fact that the money was going to a close friend. I suggested that instead of keeping the money, our mutual friend should instead send it to a group or charity that supported a cause the dieter disagreed with. We settled on a group that it’s pretty safe to say very few decent people would likely want to support (this is sometimes referred to as an anti-charity). Everyone agreed to the change, and my friend followed through on his goal for the first time since his first Point A years ago.
My friend was tired of Point B sabotaging him and making him look bad; it was time to wage war. He put his future self at risk of embarrassment and damage to his sense of integrity by sharing the goal with more people. He put his future self at risk of monetary penalty by putting money on the line. He put his future self at risk of indirectly supporting a cause with which both his current and future selves disagreed. He tactically subjected his future self to consequences.
We were certainly not innovators here. However implemented, the core concept is simple: replace self-discipline and motivation with consequences. Earlier, I mentioned that self-discipline and motivation fail to deliver consistent results, and now you understand why: they’re fleeting because you’re constantly transforming into different individuals. Tactical Consequences work because they transcend time: inaction or failure become less likely options if they would introduce a problem to your life. Set up your future self to fail at the cost of money, pride, possessions, integrity, or combinations thereof.
In some cases, due to the nature of your goal, you can put into place your own Tactical Consequences with little or no outside assistance. For example—and continuing with the ongoing weight-loss theme—during periods of my life in which I participated in martial arts competitions, whenever I wanted to lose a few pounds after the Thanksgiving/year-end holiday eating gauntlet (the goal), I would enter myself in a tournament a few weeks into the new year, but would do so in the weight class that contained my goal weight (the method); I would leverage Accountability by letting family and teammates know I entered, and then if I didn’t make the weight, I’d face much stronger and larger opponents (Tactical Consequences).
As another example of self-inflicted Tactical Consequences, one of my closest friends maintained a day job for years while building his small business. Once it grew to the point that he could just about sustain his bills without working elsewhere, he pulled the trigger and quit (the method); if he didn’t work hard to network and drum up new business, he would find himself in dire financial straits or have to again seek employment (the Tactical Consequences).
Let’s discuss some implementation details and explore why it’s important that you only use this behavior sparingly.
Setting Mile Markers and Understanding Your Domain of Control
If your goal is long-term and large-scale, you shouldn’t tie Tactical Consequences to the overall goal, but rather to Mile Markers—checkpoints of achievement that signify progress pertaining to your overall goal. Not only is this model practical because large goals are collections of smaller goals, but there are also psychological factors at play. Hitting smaller goals and spreading your sense of achievement out over time will inspire you to continue more effectively than relying on a single, distant, long-term goal.
Goals that have been properly broken down into collections of smaller sub-goals should provide a nearly perfect collection of Mile Markers.
Imagine that your goal was to become an accomplished glass artist. As mentioned, you wouldn’t want to tie Tactical Consequences to the overall goal, but rather Mile Markers that comprise it. You may think that winning a competition by a certain date would be a good candidate, but it wouldn’t be because such events are qualitatively judged by third parties; you’d be relying, in part, on the whims and biases of judges. Instead, tie the Tactical Consequences to things that reflect your own dedication to the goal, such as entering a certain number of competitions before a certain date. Doing so lies squarely within your Domain of Control, and the preparation required to compete will force you to adopt behaviors that will ensure progress toward both winning competitions and your ultimate goal.
External factors can pose challenges and threaten your ability to execute on even a well-constructed goal’s ultimate success criterion; while you can (and should) adjust for such challenges as they arise, you should tie Tactical Consequences to Mile Markers that rely entirely on your action or inaction. The simpler Mile Markers are, and the more they rely only on your own behaviors, they more effective they’ll generally be.
As another example, imagine that you wanted to publish a comic book. There are quite a few Mile Markers you could tie Tactical Consequences to surrounding writing, storyboarding, illustrating, coloring, etc., but when it comes to publishing, you’re reliant on the willingness of a publisher to work with you. While you can influence that, you can’t control it. Because of this, rather than setting a Mile Marker called have comic book published, pick something like research and send well-constructed pitch letters to at least fifteen different agents or publishers. When no one and nothing else can be blamed for your inability to execute on a Mile Marker, you’ll find yourself robbed of excuses—that’s an incredibly freeing feeling and lets you define Tactical Consequences with impunity.
Which brings us to the next topic…
Taking It to the Limit
Approach the following first as a philosophical exercise before worrying about implementation:
The Tactical Consequences tied to Mile Markers for your goal that lie within your Domain of Control should be extreme if the goal is incredibly important to you. Remember: inaction or failure become less likely options if they would introduce a problem to your life. Let’s amend that to say a catastrophic problem because the more extreme the consequences, the less likely you are to tolerate failure as an option.
As consequences approach intolerable, inaction or failure becomes almost impossible. You at Point A—the enthusiastic, driven version of you—has the potential to become an asshole. A sadistic, devious villain. In such cases, Point B you may hate the Point A version, but too bad—Point A you is in charge because they came first and have the intel needed to leverage Point B you’s weaknesses, fears, desires, and anxieties. In accessing such intimate forces, you can all but guarantee a degree of success otherwise virtually unattainable.
It’s difficult to come up with extreme Tactical Consequence examples because the aforementioned weaknesses, fears, desires, and anxieties are different for everyone. For some, social consequences are far more painful than monetary ones. For some, denial of creature comforts may be a big driver. Be honest with yourself and push the boundaries. If you love television, banning yourself from watching it for a month may seem like a good Tactical Consequence, but does it guarantee you’ll follow through on your Mile Markers? What about if you banned all television and films for a year, and would have to destroy your television?
This illustrates a point: every goal comes with the opportunity to ask yourself if you value success/execution relating to your goal—and all it will bring you—more than you value the things you choose put on the line. Think of your motivations and know that if you want to guarantee success, you always have the option of taking it far, digging deep, and making it hurt.
Before you dismiss me as a lunatic, consider that me at Point B can be pretty lazy. Me at Point C can be afraid of failure. Me at Point D can be overwhelmed by life’s responsibilities, and—worst of all—me at Point E can decide my goal simply didn’t matter in the first place. I know I’m as weak-willed, fickle, and easily distracted as anyone else, so for the goals I’ve valued the most, I’ve devised quite a few extreme Tactical Consequences over the years.
When you began reading this, I promised you the ability to take failure out of the equation—to entirely remove inaction and failure as options. This is it—this is how. It’s not complex, but it’s something very few have the guts to discuss honestly because we secretly like the failure option; it comforts us. We like being able to lay blame on external forces, or to be able to shrug off a previous goal as a phase or bad idea. We like the eject button the failure option provides. I also believe—deep down in our hearts—we all know it’s possible to remove failure. You would hit that first fitness Mile Marker if failing to do so meant using up your vacation time jogging across your entire state in the winter. You would hit your first side-business Mile Marker if doing so prevented your grandmother from opening a sealed envelope containing a detailed list of embarrassing secrets. You would finish the first draft of that screenplay if you would have to donate your car if you missed your deadline. You would launch that online store in time if failing to do so meant burning every existing photo of your beloved childhood pet and deleting any digital copies. It’s a weird and ugly concept, but you should keep it in mind as a viable option because it works when nothing else will. When you’ve failed, procrastinated, and made excuses for years. And when the goal truly matters, I urge you to push the boundaries because if you can tolerate the consequence, inaction and failure will always be options.
Setting Mile Markers well within your Domain of Control gives you the freedom to craft Tactical Consequences that are as ruthless, life-altering, reputation-damaging, and police-report-filing as you’d like. Remember, this is you at Point A; the Accountability and Tactical Consequences you bring to this goal will force you to push through when (not if) you lose steam at Point B, C, or beyond.
Now that you understand that this option is available to you, you need to understand how to wield it responsibly.
Extreme Tactical Consequences as a Filtration Tool
At this point, you may be under the impression that I’m constantly setting up booby traps for myself, living a high-stakes life wrought with minute-by-minute drama and self-abusive consequences. This is certainly not the case, and if I don’t make it to the gym on time today, I can assure you I won’t have to burn my house to the ground. Quite the opposite; Tactical Consequences are an incredibly powerful tool that should be used with caution, and not every goal warrants them. In fact, the exercise of applying Tactical Consequences can often transform into an exercise in filtration.
By implementing Tactical Consequences, you demonstrate that inaction or failure relating to goals you value isn’t tolerated, and if you aren’t willing to commit distressing Tactical Consequences to a goal, then you have to ask yourself if you really want to achieve it as badly as you claim. That’s vital and healthy; if you’re an excitable, enthusiastic dreamer who is interested in taking on the world and chronically spreading yourself thin, the threat of an extreme Tactical Consequence forces you to reconsider, reduce scope, prioritize, and focus your energy. In many cases, the internal discussion about whether or not a goal is truly important enough to decorate with extreme Tactical Consequences frees you; it forces you to ask if the goal was an empowering fantasy you’ve always held onto for comfort but never truly wanted. It isolates and assigns value to your true goals while weeding out the whims. It encourages you to weigh a goal against its ability to bring you more of what you value on the most fundamental level.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue goals that you value but to which you can’t justify applying Tactical Consequences. Personally, I dedicate blocked sessions of time to a number of personal, professional, and fitness goals I value; I meticulously organize them using the tactics I share in Foundations of Execution. I’ve even expanded the scope of failure by sharing some such goals with my family, colleagues, and others. Without employing these behaviors, I know I’m never going to progress as I’d like. While certainly important, these goals are far from my most vital; they don’t have the potential to drastically change my life. For that reason, I choose not to tie Tactical Consequences to their Mile Markers. If I did so for every single such goal—especially if I made the Tactical Consequences extreme—I’d be a stressed-out lunatic. Not every goal is important enough to justify subjecting myself to this practice; and when one is, it’s clear. I’m willing to bet you know which of your goals are worth subjecting yourself to risk and frustration, as well.
Think of Tactical Consequences as a potentially lethal weapon; respect them, use them sparingly and with careful consideration, and when you do actually deploy them, do so without mercy.
Defining an Executor of Consequences and Auditor
If I’ve convinced you that Tactical Consequences are an important tool, at this point, you may be asking how you’re expected to make sure you go through with them. That’s a great question; if Point D you can’t be trusted to follow through on Point A you’s goal, they certainly can’t be trusted to follow through on distressing Tactical Consequences.
Earlier, I cited examples that illustrate how you can often enforce your own Tactical Consequences—such as when I would enter martial arts tournaments in a different weight class, or when my friend quit his job in order to force himself to commit to his side gig. However, not every goal presents such an easy setup for Tactical Consequences, and this is where you may need to leverage Accountability in more unique ways. Online Accountability services like those mentioned earlier can often provide this for you, but may fall short when you want to venture into more extreme or unorthodox consequences. When it comes to such cases—depending on your situation, the nature of your goal, and interpersonal dynamics—you may be able to explore building a support team. Minimally, this means coordinating your goal/consequences with two individuals—an Executor of Consequences and an Auditor.
An Executor of Consequences is an individual who will remain actively engaged in your journey and up to date on your progress, and who will be willing to do the work to ensure that all Tactical Consequences are carried out. This is where you call upon your closest personal relationships.
This is also where things can become a bit uncomfortable.
However, true friendship isn’t most evident in the currency of sympathy, but rather in respect for your best interests; love isn’t demonstrated in leniency and concessions, but rather in helping you pursue the things that matter to you. A true friend will force you to carry out Tactical Consequences—will refuse to come pick you up when it’s cold, and your feet hurt, and you don’t think you can run any farther. A true friend will deliver the envelope of embarrassing secrets to your grandmother. They’ll come take your television off the wall and list it for sale online for you. And if the threat of a Tactical Consequence isn’t enough to force you to execute on your Mile Markers when enthusiasm wanes, laziness kicks in, and interests shift, your desire to spare a friend from the uncomfortable position of having to enforce them may be.
The Auditor is a second individual—essentially a back-up or insurance policy—tasked with ensuring that the Executor of Consequences follows through on their duties. With this second team member in place, in order for a Tactical Consequence not to be carried out, three people have to fail to see the value in your success; three people have to make the decision to spare you the discomfort brought about by your inaction. At the risk of sounding callous, if you truly value your goal and openly share your motivations, yet you and your entire support system are unwilling to step up when the moment comes, you may want to reassess your character as well as the character of those whose company you keep.
If you have no family, friends, or network you can rely on, leverage online communities relating to your interest or goal domain. It may involve a good deal of work, but if you really want to do this, you can find a way to make it work.
Asking someone to be your Executor of Consequences or Auditor can be awkward; however, there are a few tactics you can use to make it less so:
Increase buy-in by collaborating on Tactical Consequences — You should be the primary author of your Tactical Consequences since you’re the only individual intimately familiar with the fears, anxieties, and desires from which they should be derived. However, if your Executor is somehow involved in crafting the Tactical Consequences and the details surrounding them, they’ll most likely feel more of a sense of ownership surrounding enforcement.
Make it fun — Don’t approach the request from a place of seriousness, and don’t make the task of enforcing Tactical Consequences seem dark and thankless. Embrace the unorthodox nature of the request, encourage absurd, funny, or embarrassing consequences, and—while your Tactical Consequences should cause you true distress when they relate to important goals—don’t take yourself or this process too seriously. Don’t be afraid to have fun with this.
Don’t withhold context — If you open up to someone and share your motivations and details surrounding struggles or pain you may have endured due to past failures relating to a particular goal, your Executor and Auditor will most likely feel a greater sense of responsibility to enforce the Tactical Consequences. They’ll believe their enforcement will be in your best interests.
It’s Not Crazy If It Works
When you started reading this, I realize it may not have been exactly what you were expecting, but it’s the truth: in order to follow through and execute, you don’t need to be exceptionally intelligent, motivated, or self-disciplined. You simply need to create situations that force future versions of yourself to make decisions that align with your current values and goals.
I urge you to take some time to identify and write down ten or so Tactical Consequences that would cause you true distress—things you couldn’t even fathom having to deal with. Be creative, and don’t be afraid to get weird. Once you’ve done so, you’ll have them available should you decide to employ them.
[1] UCLA psychologist Hal Hershfield has done groundbreaking work on this topic.
Worksheets
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Tactical Consequences are just one of the fundamental concepts I explore in my book, Foundations of Execution.
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You’re ambitious. You’re driven. You’re creative, believe in your vision, and know what you’re capable of. But like most, you often find it difficult to make progress toward the things you value.
When it comes to accomplishing personal, professional, entrepreneurial, and creative goals, the world is bombarding you with bullshit guidance — coddling mantras of positivity and motivation devoid of practical action. Bullshit sounds good. Bullshit feels good. But bullshit will fail you in the long run nearly 100% of the time.
No more bullshit.
Let’s change tactics. Foundations of Execution won’t motivate you; it will give you the tools you need to execute despite the lack of motivation that will inevitably befall you. It won’t train you to abstain from excuses; it will give you the tools to strip all power from the excuses that will inevitably bubble to the forefront of your consciousness. It won’t argue the same tired case for self-discipline and convince you to work against your nature; it will show you how to circumvent your nature when it undermines your interests.
As shockingly simple as it may seem, three behaviors tend to separate those who struggle from those who consistently execute on their goals; and by the time you’ve finished reading this book, you’ll have mastered all three. You’ll come away with repeatable habits that address not just how you tackle complex undertakings, but also how you think, behave, and approach problems in all aspects of your life. It’s an irreverent, philosophy-first, whole-self approach to execution that will change you forever.
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