If you want to form new daily habits (or get rid of old ones) then the ‘Don’t Break The Chain’ method is the perfect tracking system to help you. Keep on reading to find out exactly what the ‘Don’t Break The Chain’ method is and find out how you can use it in your own life.
It is no secret that I am a big believer in forming good habits. Habits will make or break you. However, creating new habits or getting rid of old bad habits can be challenging. However, just because something is challenging doesn’t mean it is impossible. A key part of forming a new habit or achieving a goal is ensuring that you remember what you are meant to be doing (or not doing).
As part of the goal-setting process, I always encourage people to set up some sort of tracking system and I’ve already written a few articles about tracking.
The power of tracking: Why you should track what you want to improve
Using tracking in your goal-setting process
The two types of tracking that will help you to achieve your goals
However, when it comes to habits or goals that are based on doing something daily the best method to use is the ‘Don’t Break The Chain’ method.
WHAT IS THE ‘DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN’ METHOD?
The ‘Don’t Break the Chain’ is where you get a monthly or annual calendar and every single day you will put a cross in the box when you have completed the desired action. You put a cross in the box for every date that you stick to your intentions and accomplish the necessary task. Most people say that this method was made famous by Jerry Seinfield. Many years ago before Jerry was famous he decided to become a better comedian he needed to write every day and follow this method of putting a cross in the calendar every day.
WHY DOES THE ‘DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN’ METHOD WORK?
Tracking in any form will help improve the likelihood of you completing an activity. Many people have great intentions to form or break new habits, but they quickly forget. Tracking is a great way for you to keep your new habit top of mind.
The reason why the ‘Don’t Break the Chain’ method is every more powerful than other forms of tracking is because the longer the chain gets the more you don’t want to break it. You’ll feel like you have let yourself down and this will provide extra motivation to do what you need to do.
WHAT IF MY GOAL DOESN’T INVOLVE A DAILY ACTIVITY?
The ‘Don’t Break the Chain’ activity is great for daily habits, but that doesn’t mean you can’t tweak it slightly to make it work for your other goals or habits. For years, I have been sending out a #MotivationalMonday email to the PropelHer community. This is a weekly activity rather than a daily activity so instead of a daily tracker I have a weekly tracker. This means each week I put a cross in the box once I’ve scheduled the e-mail. Then your chain should be 52 crosses for the year rather than 365/366 cross.
Making a tracker for a once-a-week activity is easy, but what about multiple times a week? You can still use the concept if you get a little creative. For example, maybe your goal is to meditate 5 times a week. You could create a weekly tracker that you keep tally throughout the week and on Sunday you write the number of sessions for that last week. You should then be aiming for a string of 5’s.
HOW TO GET STARTED
If you have one thing you’d like to track daily you are trying to follow at the moment then the easiest thing to do is get a month-to-view calendar. You can get diaries that have this view, download a printable or even make your own.
If you have multiple things you’d like to track then you might have to get creative. I personally create a tracker which has the dates down one side and then a column for every action I want to track such as write my goals, read, say my affirmations etc.
