Don’t break the chain.
Originally published at Cheryl Katz. Please leave any comments there.
I’m sure Ben will read this and have commentary to share, but in any case this post is dedicated to Ben and the motivational tidbit he shared with me yesterday.
Jerry Seinfeld has been reported (by Ben) to say that the idea of “don’t break the chain” is a powerful and effective tool for a) productivity and b) habit forming. My real life example is running - I’m resuming my running habit after six months off, and my focus inland performance yet - it’s simply logging miles. I will tick off every day that I’ve run, and try not to miss a day.
(Obviously when incinerate to focus on performance I won’t run every day, but I will work in some kind of low impact fitness on the running rest days. Recovery exercise. This messes with my example, so don’t focus on this.)
Day two, so far so good. I know it’s working because I thought about not working out tomorrow and then immediately rewrote my day so that a run is feasible. I WILL NOT BREAK THE CHAIN!
How many days does it have to be before I can consider the habit formed? I think even time alone cannot tell. Time and my inclinations will tell. However, I’ll add a photography chain after the running chain is built. One task at a time.
Update:
Benjamin Katz: Lifehacker article about it is here: http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret
Cheryl Brummer Katz: Oh and here, Lifehacker says it’ll take 21 days. Reiterating some of my habit forming thoughts! http://lifehacker.com/5724234/how-to-form-good-habits-this-year?skyline=true&s=i