A couple of years ago there was a little story doing the rounds about a bit of productivity advice from none other than Seinfeld. He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day, even when you didn’t feel like it. To help achieve this he had a big calendar on his wall and for each day that he did some writing he put a big red cross over that day. After a few days a chain would be created. As the chain gets bigger you’ll not want to break it, so you’ll do what it takes to keep it going.
I liked this simple idea so much I decided to create a little template for it. However, it never really stuck with me and it got kicked to the curb… until now. Nowadays, I generally feel that I’ve got the whole working through my to-do list thing pretty much nailed thanks to my weekly planner. However the whole habit building process is something different entirely.
For a time I tried to include these things on my weekly planner but when it comes to building habits, you’ll trip up more often than not. That meant a lot of incomplete or missed tasks on my planner – not encouraging. With that in mind I decided to reinvent my Seinfeld-influenced habit tracker. Check out my progress so far:
Currently this is a beta release because I really want your feedback on it. Each sheet has four habit trackers on it. You can cut them out if you want (I cut them out and staple them together into a little book) or have them all on one sheet. Each time you achieve your habit building goal for the day you tick a box off. When you fail to achieve your goal you put a cross and start on a new row the next day. Be sure to note down your longest chain to date in the top corner.
The problem with habit building is it’s very black and white. For instance, I’ve been trying to cut back on how often I drink alcohol (just as part of a healthier lifestyle) but every approach I’ve tried to date makes me feel like I have to just abstane from touching a drop of beer altogether. With this tool, I can gently ease myself in. It’s just about creating as long a chain as possible (or beating my previous best). I might do a chain of two days, then five days, then an entire week and so on. Each time I set a new best score I can treat myself by having a beer with my meal. And if I go through a period without really building up any chains, I’ve got that top score to remind me that I’ve done it before and I can do it again.
July 28, 2009 at 02:43AM
Really like this idea, going to try it today with a few habits and see how I get on.
July 28, 2009 at 11:25AM
Hi James, I noticed that there’s seven boxes per item per sheet. Does this work in conjunction with your weekly planner?
July 28, 2009 at 05:00PM
The seven boxes have no significance to be honest. When designing it, it could have been any number but I decided to have it cover a weekly period so it’s less random and a user can make use of it if they want. If you break the chain midway through the week (say, Wednesday), you have to start again on a new row from Thursday anyway so it doesn’t really have much effect on how you use the form.
July 28, 2009 at 09:02PM
Neat. At first read without actually using it, I wish it had a date area for when the string started. I may go a few days without updating, then remember that I back-slid on my first habit two days ago, but have been steadfast on my second habit. Just don’t remember whether it was four or five days since I updated, so don’t know how many boxes to credit. Or since you’ve got the tallies in weeks, a place to note which day of the week the string started perhaps? Maybe a habit to track is how many days in a row I can remember to update the habit tracker!
Something else to consider is that if I just handed the sheet to, say, my kid, it wouldn’t be intuitively obvious to him what he’s supposed to do with it. Consider adding your little how-to text from the webpage to the template. If it’s a distraction, once you know how to use it, format extra versions without the instructions.
July 28, 2009 at 10:47PM
There are a lot of iPhone/ iPod Touch applications that do this sort of thing and are pretty powerful and give useful feedback and reminders. Habitcheck is one such application, as is Sciral Consistency (also available in Mac and PC versions) and Touch Goal. All four have their merits and are very powerful. Worth buying a iPod Touch for in my opinion.
July 29, 2009 at 02:29PM
Could also use this in reverse for de-habiting. To follow your example, you could mark off the number of pints you’re drinking and aim for a personal best without. Would work with avoiding Twitter, checking e-mails, etc.
July 29, 2009 at 08:07PM
That’s a good point Rich.
Benton, you’ve brought up the problems I’ve personally had using it. Actually, rather than crossing off each box I now put the day in. Of course the boxes aren’t particularly big for this. It’s something to consider, particularly the point about adding instructions to it.
July 30, 2009 at 12:28PM
This looks like a great tool. I can’t wait to try it out and see how it works for me.
August 3, 2009 at 04:00AM
Had a further thought about this form and marking days off. By de-emphasizing the day-for-day aspect, you allow for counting not-per-day events successfully accomplished. I try to not leave the clean laundry basket sitting, waiting for unloading into the dressers more than a half day, but this is only a concern every couple of days so a not-per-day setup would work usefully here. The form could also be used for remembering my night to cook, including inspiration, shopping and preparing. I generally cover Fridays to give the wife a night’s reprieve, so that’s another irregular schedule.
August 9, 2009 at 03:14AM
I’ve been using it for about ten days. It is a great tool. Some habits are easier to develop than others, but I keep trying. I fill in the box with a black pen when I have accomplished the action and if I don’t accomplish the action then I put a big red X in the box. I put a starting date on the top along with the name of the habit. I check off everything at the end of each day. Really hate to put that red X, but since I am a visual person it works for me.
August 9, 2009 at 08:27AM
Thanks for the feedback Charlene. Currently developing a new draft of the habit tracker. Considering whether to just have it cover one long period of 31 days (a month) rather than the slightly confusing seven boxes, fourteen lines approach at the moment. It might suit your approach of filling in the boxes better. Would love your thoughts on that.