Don't break the chain

Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most successful comedians of all-time.  The television network Comedy Central lists Seinfeld among the top 100 comedians of all-time (for the record, he is ranked at #12, just behind Johnny Carson and ahead of Robin Williams).  He was the co-creator, co-writer, and star of the television series Seinfeld, which ran from 1989 to 1998 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms of all time.  The show led the Nielsen ratings in seasons six and nine (the final season), and finished in the top two every year from 1994 to 1998.  Only two other television shows, I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show finished their runs at the top of the Nielsen ratings.  At the height of the television show's (and his) success, Seinfeld made over $267 million in 1998.  What is even more impressive is the comedian's consistency from year to year.  His level of consistency and high performance is something we can both aspire to, learn from, and model.

What is the secret to Seinfeld's success?  It's pretty simple to describe and boils down to three words - "work and though and preparation".  It's certainly not a mystery that hard work can and often does lead to success.  Unfortunately, there's not a 1:1 correlation between how hard you work and how successful you ultimately become, but there is no question that success doesn't come without hard work.  Is there anything else that Seinfeld can teach us?

As it turns out, the comedian shared at least one of his secrets with an aspiring comedian named Brad Isaac.  In an interview with Lifehacker, Isaac told of how he approached Seinfeld one night after a performance and asked him if he had any tips that he would be willing to share.  Isaac told Lifehacker:

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.

He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day.

“After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.”

Just like that, Seinfeld's strategy for achieving consistently high performance has come to be called the "don't break the chain method" of habit formation.  I've found this particular method to be incredibly useful in both my own personal and professional lives.  As a matter of fact, I've even posted about the advantages and disadvantages of this technique in the past (see "The Big Red X" and "All Things Must Pass").  

Consistency is one of the keys to high performance.  The top performers in virtually any field or endeavor are usually the ones who show up and work hard each and every day, regardless of how they feel or what else is going on in their lives.  Top performers don't let a bad work-out, performance, or day at work compound - they show up for their next one and keep pushing forward.  Consistency.  Resilience.  Persistence.  These characteristics are what usually separate the top performers from their peers.

Seinfeld's "don't break the chain" strategy works because it focuses our attention on the process, not the performance.  As James Clear (author of the book Atomic Habits) writes, "It’s not about how you feel, how inspired you are, or how brilliant your work is that day. Instead, it’s just about “not breaking the chain.”  However, there are a couple of important caveats to make this strategy work.

Whenever you are trying to establish a new habit, it's best to focus on just one habit.  In other words, don't try to change everything all at once.  As an example, if you are trying to develop a healthy lifestyle (which could involve regular exercise, a health diet, avoiding and reducing stress through meditation, etc), it's best to focus on just one aspect of that healthy lifestyle first (say, exercising every day as opposed to starting a regular routine of daily meditation).  Similarly, it's important to start with small change first.  You simply cannot go out an run a marathon tomorrow - you have to build up to it.  Start with small, incremental change, but make sure that the change is continuous and incremental!  

Progress towards your goal should be visible.  You should keep track of your daily performance by using some sort of tracking tool.  Jerry Seinfeld used a calendar, but there are also apps available to help you achieve your goals.

We are more successful at establishing habits when we share our goals with others.  For example, if you are crossing off each day that you successfully do something (e.g. exercise for 20 minutes or read a chapter in that long novel you've been wanting to read forever) on a calendar (see above), it's helpful to post that calendar where others can see it!  Making your progress visible to others does two things.  First, you will be more engaged when you know that others are watching you.  Second, your family members or peers will support you and encourage you more when they can see your daily progress towards a new habit.

I really like the "don't break the chain" method, and I've used it several times in my own personal and professional life.  Case in point, when I first started this blog, I committed to trying to post something at least every Sunday and Wednesday.  As you may have noticed, I've been posting fairly regularly and even more frequently than that!  The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."  The British author and philosopher James Allen said, "The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny."  And whatever else you do, don't break the chain!