How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day
This chapter focuses on the habit tracker as a tool to stick with good habits every day. It emphasizes the benefits of tracking: making habits obvious, attractive, and satisfying. It also discusses strategies to make tracking easier, the importance of recovering quickly when habits break down (never miss twice), and the potential pitfalls of tracking the wrong thing. The chapter concludes with a summary of key points.
Key Stories & Examples
Trent Dyrsmid's Paper Clip Strategy
A young stockbroker uses two jars, one with 120 paper clips and one empty. He makes a sales call and then moves a paper clip from the full jar to the empty jar. This continues each day.
Visual measures of progress reinforce behavior and add immediate satisfaction to any activity.
Benjamin Franklin's Virtues Tracking
Benjamin Franklin used a booklet to track his progress on thirteen personal virtues each day.
Consistent tracking provides valuable insights into personal habits and progress towards goals.
Jerry Seinfeld's Joke Writing Chain
Jerry Seinfeld uses a calendar to track his daily joke writing, focusing on 'never breaking the chain'.
Maintaining a streak, even without focusing on the quality of each instance, builds consistency and an impressive portfolio over time.