Every limit I've set on my phone came with a button that said "ignore for today". I pressed it without thinking, every time. The limit wasn't a rule. It was a suggestion from the version of me that set it.

What finally made a rule stick was making the break cost something real, and sending it somewhere that hurts.

Years ago, learning Korean, I set a daily goal and paid a friend $15 for every day I missed. More recently I promised that if I blew a deadline, $15 would go to an organisation I couldn't stand. I worked 12 hours straight that day.

Three things I took from that:

1. The cost has to land at the moment of the decision. A weekly review doesn't help at 11pm with the phone in your hand.
2. Somebody other than you has to count. If I have to confess my own failure, I'll find a reason not to.
3. Where the money goes matters more than how much. Losing $15 is annoying. Giving $15 to people I disagree with is something I'll walk across the room to avoid.

I ended up building an Android app around this, called Punish (disclosure: I'm the developer). You pick the goal, the amount and the organisation: pro-gun people pick Everytown, anti-gun people pick the NRA. The phone does the counting. Keep the goal and you pay nothing; miss it and you pay it yourself. Closed beta: punishapp.com

But I'm more curious about the general idea. Has anyone here found a consequence that actually stuck, money or otherwise?

Disclosure: I'm the developer. This is my app.

Every screen-time app I tried had an "ignore for today" button. So I built one where ignoring your own limit costs money, and the money goes to an organisation you'd hate to fund. Pro-gun? It goes to Everytown. Anti-gun? The NRA. You pick whoever makes you wince.

Keep the goal and nothing happens. Miss it and the amount is owed, which you pay yourself through every.org. The app never holds money and takes no cut.

Goals can be:

• Screen time: an app or a website under a daily limit, or a cap on how many times you open something.
• Tasks: gym, an assignment, anything with a deadline, proved with a photo or your location.

The permissions, since this is where I'd be suspicious too:

• Usage access: to read how long each app was in front. Android's own numbers.
• Accessibility service: only needed for website goals. It reads which app is in front and the text of the browser's address bar. It performs no actions and doesn't block anything. While you're in an app with a goal, it shows a countdown notification and can put up Punish's own pause screen, which you can always continue past.

No blocking, and no wallet inside the app.

Android only for now, closed beta, iPhone in progress. Free to download, two goals at a time on the free tier. 17 languages.

Beta signup: punishapp.com

Happy to answer anything about how it measures or what it stores.