I broke a lifelong promise... 🥔🥔🥔

11 months ago, I made a big bold promise:

No more potato chips. Ever. Not a single one. 🥔

It's not like I’m a chip fanatic… but I hate how addictive they are.

Pringles absolutely nailed it with the ‘Once you pop, you can't stop’ ad.

Last Saturday, at a party, I broke that lifelong promise…

It was TWO chips. That’s all.

Grabbed without thinking while standing by the snacks table, awkwardly searching for a new person to chat with.

Two chips!

Sharing the news with my girlfriend the next day, I didn't feel like a failure.

Instead, the slip-up made me realize something important: I had trusted myself too much that I hadn't built a plan for failure.

I believed I would follow through, and that was my mistake.

From Promise to Precommitment Contract

The experience reminded me of a concept from Annie Duke's book How to Decide called precommitment contracts.

These are agreements you make in advance to lock yourself into good decisions before temptation hits.

They’re not just a promise, but a system.

I hadn't done that. I'd made a lifelong rule with no backup plan. No structure. No way to recover.

I simply relied on willpower.

The Ulysses Contract

This idea isn't new.

In Homer’s Odyssey, Ulysses (Odysseus) knew he and his crew would soon sail past the island of the Sirens, mythical creatures who lured sailors to their deaths with their songs.

Enchanted by the music, men would lose all sense of reason, steering their ships straight into the rocks.

But Ulysses didn’t rely on willpower. He anticipated his weakness.

So, he devised a plan:

• Plugged his sailors' ears with wax so they couldn't hear the Sirens

• Had himself tied to the mast of his ship

• Ordered his men not to release him, no matter how much he begged

This is the classic example of binding yourself in the present to avoid self-destructive choices in the future.

He didn't trust his future self to make the right choice in the heat of the moment. So he locked in the decision ahead of time.

And when it comes to my digital habits, I've been doing the same thing without realizing, until now.

The Precommitments Contracts I've Already Signed

I've quietly built some digital boundaries that work the same way:

📱 No phone for the first 30 minutes after waking up (phone charges overnight out of reach)
🚫 Social media blocked during work hours (inaccessible using unhookd)
💪🏻 No phone checking at the gym (phone stored in locker)

Each one removes friction or makes the "bad" option harder to access.

They're all quiet contracts with my future self, and they work.

The 4-Step Digital Precommitment Contract

To stop fighting the same digital battles every day, make it easier to do the right thing by design:

1. Pick one behavior to change → No phone after 9 PM? No social media during work? Choose one.

2. Build a physical/digital barrier → Turn on Focus Mode, block apps, move your charger to another room.

3. Tell someone → Accountability partner, roommate, family member. Someone you respect.

4. Plan your recovery → One slip isn't failure. It's part of the plan. How will you reset?

When You Slip Up

Annie Duke calls it "tilt" - the emotional spiral that turns one mistake into total collapse.

❌ Don't: "I already checked Instagram, might as well doom scroll for an hour."

✅ Do: "I slipped, so let me leave my phone in the other room for the next hour."

Precommitments aren’t about perfection. They’re about building resilience.

What's one precommitment contract you're ready to sign this week?

I’d love to hear from you. Hit reply and let me know. I read every email!

See you next week,
George

P.S. Your opinion matters!