How to Choose the Right Stake Amount for Your Habits
A practical guide to setting stakes that motivate without overwhelming. Find your sweet spot between $1 and $100.
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Bart ZalewskiRelated reading
Getting Started with HabitsCharity in 5 Minutes
A step-by-step tutorial to set up your first habit, choose a charity, and start building accountability in less than 5 minutes.
The Goldilocks Principle
Set your stake too low, and it won't motivate you. Set it too high, and you'll either never miss (because the fear is paralyzing) or you'll give up entirely because it feels too risky.
The goal is to find the amount that makes you think twice, but doesn't keep you up at night.
The Coffee Test
A good starting point: What would you pay for a coffee or snack without thinking twice? For most people, that's $3-$7.
Start there. If losing $5 would make you pause and reconsider skipping your habit, that's probably your minimum effective stake.
Stakes by Habit Difficulty
Easy Habits ($1-$5)
Perfect for habits that take less than 10 minutes and require minimal effort:
- Drinking 8 glasses of water
- Taking vitamins
- Making your bed
- 5-minute meditation
Medium Habits ($5-$20)
Good for habits requiring 20-45 minutes or moderate effort:
- 30-minute workout
- Reading for 20 minutes
- Meal prepping
- Learning a language for 30 minutes
Hard Habits ($20-$50)
Reserved for challenging habits or those requiring significant time:
- Running 5 miles
- Writing 1000 words
- 2-hour focused work session
- Avoiding social media all day
Extreme Habits ($50-$100)
Only use this for habits you're absolutely committed to or bad habits you need to break:
- No alcohol for a month
- Cold plunge every day
- Waking up at 5 AM daily
The Income Rule
A general guideline: Your daily stake across all habits shouldn't exceed 1-2% of your daily income. If you make $100/day, keep total daily stakes under $1-2. If you make $500/day, you can comfortably stake $5-10.
This ensures stakes remain motivating without becoming financially stressful.
Start Low, Increase Gradually
When in doubt, start with $3-5 for your first habit. Build a streak for 2 weeks. If it feels too easy and you're not feeling the accountability, increase to $10. If you're completing consistently, the stakes might be just right.
The Escalating Stakes Feature
HabitsCharity offers optional escalating stakes that increase by 25% for each consecutive miss. This is powerful for habits where you tend to give up after the first miss.
Example: Start at $5. Miss once, next day is $6.25. Miss again, $7.81. This creates increasing pressure to get back on track.
Final Thoughts
Remember: The goal isn't to donate as much as possible to charity (though that's a nice side effect). The goal is to build habits that stick. Choose stakes that motivate you to show up consistently.