I have spent a lot of time studying how to be more productive. The latest in Geek Chic is the system of getting things done called, interestingly, Getting Things Done…or GTD for short. If it is you struggle with staying organized in your professional or personal lives, then I would recommend looking into it. You can read an introduction to the GTD methodology here.
Now, just because I have spent a lot of time studying productivity doesn’t mean I am a productive person. It is sort of like a geologist. I am no closer to being productive than a geologist is to being a rock. But one of my key procrastination strategies is to spend a lot of time learning about how not to procrastinate. That is why I have become so good at not writing my novel.
But I came across an interesting strategy that might come in handy, especially for those that like to make New Year’s Resolutions. You can read the entire article here: lifehacker.com.
In it, we read about a technique Jerry Seinfeld uses to motivate himself to write everyday. He takes a big wall calendar and a red magic marker. He commits himself to writing every day and when he does, he then marks the calendar with a red X. After a few days of this, he has begun creating a chain of these X’s. This now becomes his motivation to keep the chain going. The whole point of this exercise is to not break the chain.
It is is such a simple, beautiful visual representation of keeping you consistent. That is the one area where I fall apart…CONSTANTLY. I have consistency for a brief period of time and I fizzle fairly quickly.
I can see how this can be helpful for so many of the New Year’s Resolutions I am sure we are all making. In addition to helping maintain consistent writing, it might be used for exercising, reading and dieting to name a few. I can even see it being used as a negative reinforcement. For example, you could put a red X for days that you go without watching TV. I could use it to put a red X for every day I don’t swear at my Baby Goats.
Anyway, simple, little “tricks” like this can be a useful tool to not only jump start a new habit, but may also be useful to sustain you when you you inevitably hit a slump.
My only mod to this system is that I won’t need to buy a Year-at-a-Glance calendar. I can just tear out January from the calendar and hang that on the wall because if I can maintain over 14 days of consistency, I would be shocked!
Question for BoMR: Whether or not you have a New Year’s resolution, what techniques do you use to maintain consistency in your life?