This post is somewhat of a short sequel to the one I wrote on "Finding your way forward when stuck"(Check archives for the post).
I have been re-reading the book 'Deep Work' by Cal Newport. The first time, I read this book casually and missed out on several useful nuggets of information. This time around, I am reading it slowly with the intention of grasping the concepts and actually applying them into my life.
In the book, the author mentions a technique called the “Chain method” that he learnt from Jerry Seinfeld ( The creator of the television series, Sienfeld ). It has been working beautifully for me. And I want to share that with you today, so you too can apply it to any project that you want to move forward on and start seeing progress.
It's simple. Just keep a calendar on the wall. Each day you take a step towards your goal, cross out the date on the calendar with a big red X. Goals could be anything of relevance to you such as exercising for 30 minutes a day or meditating for 10 minutes, or writing for 15 minutes a day etc.
As you keep at this, the chain will grow longer. And will help you stay charged up to keep going. Your next goal would be to not break the chain.
My experience with this : Seeing the red crosses is really helping me to get the work done. My goal is to study for my specialist course, that I am lagging on, 45 minutes a day. This method has given me renewed energy to plough through and do the hard work. As you can see I have been able to keep up for 2 continuous weeks. And my goal now is to just keep at it.
The task I have for you, this week, is to try this method out for your own goals, and see how it works for you. Drop me a mail or leave a comment if you would be trying this out 🙂