Kicking habits with a stickK

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Having trouble with will power? Can’t resist that chocolate chip cookie? Find yourself stepping outside for a smoke instead of a jog?

Maybe some extra incentive will help your resolve. At new website, stikK.com, you can ‘put a contract out on yourself,’ betting that you can meet self-improvement goals. The service is free but, if you choose, there can be a price for failure; you can commit to donate to charity if you backslide.

Ian Ayres, one of two Yale economics professors who founded the site, explained the reasoning in a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece: ‘... as economists, we’re here to tell you that plain, old-fashioned financial incentives -- the risk of losing a substantial amount of money -- are a pretty effective tool.’

Check out one such attempt by KPCC-FM contributor Karen Fritsche, whose hilarious, first-person account of using stikK.com as a smoking-cessation tool was broadcast this week.

--Martin Beck