Forcing Functions (Public Commitment)
Announce the deadline before the work exists, then let expectation drag it out of you.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 90%
A forcing function is a strategic setup that makes you do the thing you already want to do. Hardy's example is his friend John Burke, an Atlanta pianist with eight or nine albums, who announces each new album's release date to his fans before he has finished — sometimes before he has started. Because he genuinely cares what his fans think, the announcement creates an expectation he then has to meet. Hardy did the same with his own podcast, announcing it as a New Year's resolution before beginning, purely to put a fire under himself. The logic is simple: if it's something you already want, why not add the motivational pressure?
Origin
Hardy profiled John Burke in Willpower Doesn't Work as a case study in strategic forcing functions, and then applied the same mechanism to launch his own podcast — announcing it publicly as a New Year's resolution before any work had begun.
Core principles
- 01Social pressure is a designed input, not an accident — you can install it deliberately.
- 02Announcing a date before the work exists converts an intention into an obligation.
- 03It only works if you genuinely care what the audience thinks.
- 04Pressure can bust pipes or make a diamond — the difference is whether you chose it.
- 05If you already want to do the thing, there's no downside to adding the fire.
How to run it
- 1
Choose the stalled project
Pick something you genuinely want to create but keep pushing back. The mechanism only works on wants, not shoulds.
Watch out Don't use this on a goal you don't actually want — you'll just create public failure.
- 2
Set a specific public date
Not 'soon' — an actual date the audience can hold you to. Specificity is what generates the expectation.
Pro tip Set it tight enough to hurt slightly, loose enough to be physically possible.
- 3
Announce it to people whose opinion you care about
Tell fans, an email list, a community, or a stage audience — a group whose expectation you'd feel bad disappointing.
Pro tip The stronger you care about the audience, the stronger the forcing function.
Watch out Announcing to an audience you're indifferent to produces no pressure at all.
- 4
Announce before you start
The point is to create the pressure that generates the work. Announcing something already finished is marketing, not a forcing function.
In the wild
The 29-year-old Atlanta pianist tells his fans a new album is coming and gives them a specific date — often before he's completed or even started it. He says it really matters to him what his fans think, which is exactly what makes the announcement bind.
→ Eight or nine composed and recorded albums, one of them nominated for an Emmy.
Hardy announced his podcast publicly as a New Year's resolution before he had started building it, purely to put the fire under himself.
→ The announced expectation forced the project into existence.
Common mistakes
Announcing vaguely
'Coming soon' creates no expectation and therefore no pressure. Only a specific date has force.
Waiting until it's done to announce
That inverts the mechanism — the announcement is supposed to generate the work, not report it.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creators, founders, and anyone with a self-directed project and no external deadline.
Not ideal for
People who don't care what their audience thinks, or work whose scope is genuinely unknowable up front.
From the transcript
“He publicly committed to his audience... that he's got a new project coming out and that it's gonna be out and he tells them when…”
“Pressure can bust pipes or can make a diamond.”
“Even with starting this podcast I had announced it as a New Year's resolution on purpose — I didn't even start yet, but just purposely…”
From the episode
Benjamin Hardy: Willpower Sucks, Just Change Your Environment
Benjamin Hardy