I read a story once about Jerry Seinfeld’s process for improving his jokes early on in his career. He’d write one joke every day and every day he did, he’d draw a big red “X” on the calendar for it. Pretty soon, he’d have a whole string of red “X”s that he did not want to break by missing a day. I imagine the blank date on the calendar would “stare” at him until his joke was accomplished, then it would be like the rest of the days, whole and complete. In this way, Seinfeld “gamified” his practice of getting better at telling jokes. And we all know how addictive games are!
I like to treat my goals the same way. I have a Google Sheet that’s always open with a list of daily tasks I need to complete, things like breathing exercises, weight training, the sit-to-stand test (scientifically proven method of determining longevity), investing research, drinking 100 ounces of water, celebrating one thing about my husband, etc. If I don’t see a task that’s been highlighted in blue (complete), I take care of it so that all is congruent again in my world and my string of small successes remains unbroken.
BJ Fogg also talks a lot about why this works in his book, “Tiny Habits.” I have 20 daily tasks I need to complete. If I tried to remember them all, I’d forget to do half. My always-opened tab containing my spreadsheet is a visual cue that sparks my actions. And I can access it anywhere from the cloud. Sometimes the biggest obstacle we face is just remembering what we have to do to consistently work towards our goal. Now, my daily goals are equivalent to a game of “whack-a-mole.”
See the mole, whack it. See the undone task, crush it! It’s fun and positively addicting!
One Ladder Project 