“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” This is a quote from a young comedian, Brad Isaac on the advice comedian Jerry Seinfeld gave him about ‘tips for a young comedian’. It’s contained in a post by James Clear, ‘How to stop procrastinating on your goals by using the “Seinfeld Strategy”.  Recently I’ve adapted the “Seinfeld Strategy” to the work with my clients.

The process is as follows:

#1 Identify an Action Area (an Action Area is a technique/habit that my client and I have identified as a key technique to Intentionally Daily Practice (IDP). #2 My client writes the technique on a System Card that they keep in their pocket or handbag. #3 Whenever they practice there Action Area, they immediately retrieve the system card and make a cross on the card to ‘reward’ themselves for that practice #4 After a pre-determined number of crosses are made, the client gets another ‘reward’. For example, 10 minutes of web time; a small sweet; 10 minutes of free time etc. As Clear writes about in his work, one of the keys to behaviour change is immediate reward for completing a desired action.

Own the Conversation

If the above process makes sense to you, in the next seven days, trial it with a habit you want to develop. I’d love to hear your results from using the process. +++++++++ p.s. Here is a post with an AFR article ‘Homework from Hayne’. It has lessons from witnesses appearing in front of a 2109 Hayne Royal Commission. The article contains my views on the lesson of Be open (but know when to stop).  The lessons will be valuable if you ever have to face a grilling in public, or in any other type of pressured environment. Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay