The Productivity Series: Busy Doing Nothing
Welcome to our series of blog posts where we will explore a range of productivity and time management techniques and how to implement them within your journal or planner. Check out our other posts here.
Our VIP stencil for May 2024 was inspired by a productivity method called “Don’t Break The Chain” – This strategy is sometimes called the Seinfeld method, after comedian Jerry Seinfeld but, strangely, he’s claimed no part in its creation!
The Strategy:
The aim is to complete a behaviour every day, for an extended period of time. This could be a habit, a task on your to-do list, or a period of time working towards a goal (10 minutes on a project, for example).
Every day that you complete this task, behaviour, or habit you add an “X” in your calendar. The aim is to create an unbroken chain of Xs that stretch until the goal is reached or the habit is an unconscious part of every day life.
How it works:
Starting a new habit can be often be easy, making it a routine that continues long term is more difficult.
Did You Know?
A 2009 study, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology found that, on average, it takes 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic.
How many times have you been enthusiastic to start a new exercise, healthy eating, or skin care regime, but the enthusiasm dies down after a couple of days and you put it off with the mentality that you will start again next week.
Or maybe you start a big new project, like de-cluttering your home. You start off big, but soon lose motivation and end up with more disorganisation than you started with.
Don’t break the chain encourages you to compete against yourself to build the longest chain. You don’t want to give up your progress and go back to the start, so it motivates you to complete the habit again and increase the length of your chain! The further you go, the more you don’t want to lose your progress.
This method is for you if…
- You want to build good habits for the long-term.
- You like ticking things off of a to-do list.
- You enjoy gamification of your tasks.
- You set big goals but you fail to follow through.
How to incorporate into your journal:
Make a simple habit tracker and track across a week or month, or maybe create a special spread for your “Don’t Break The Chain” focus.
Our Silver and Gold VIP Members received this “Don’t Break The Chain” themed stencil as their VIP Stencil for May 2024. The stencil has 66 circles to complete, in the aim to complete an unbroken chain long enough to form a habit!
Sign up before the end of the month to receive this as your first purchase, after 31st May new members can purchase it from our VIP Stencil Archive.
You can find out more about becoming a VIP here.
