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If consistency is one of the main ways to establish a good habit — or break a bad one — the next question might be … how do we motivate ourselves to achieve that consistency?

One way might be the “don’t break the chain” method. Apparently, it worked for comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

As the story goes, a newbie comedian once asked Seinfeld for advice.

Seinfeld said when he was an up-and-coming comedian, he realized the way to become a better comic was to create better jokes. And the way to create better jokes was to write every day.

To keep himself on task to do that, Seinfeld said he used “don’t break the chain.”

Using a wall calendar that had the entire year on one page, he hung it up where he could see it. For each day he wrote, he put a big red “X” over that day.

“After a few days, you’ll have a chain,” Seinfeld reportedly said. “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 next is to not break the chain.”

“Don’t break the chain” can work for you, too.

Besides giving you a quick visual of your progress, what else does it do?

It helps you with consistency — repeating an action until it becomes, well … easy to be consistent about.

The idea is if you repeat an action enough times — even on the days when you couldn’t be less motivated — it can turn into a habit.

With the “don’t break the chain” strategy, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of focus on the outcome of a task on a particular day.

How long were Seinfeld’s writing sessions? We don’t know. They probably varied. Were some of his jokes clunkers? Maybe. But he wrote every day.
The same could be true for you. If you were to set a goal to walk 20 minutes a day, but some days fell a few minutes short, your consistency would still be on track: You completed your daily walk.

The moral of the story: Showing up, metaphorically, and consistently putting in the slow-but-steady work can help you achieve your goals over the long term.

Will you break the chain at times? Yes. Does skipping one day make it easier to skip the next? Yes. But the visual gap of Xs on your calendar might pull you back. Or, when you have a long line of Xs going and can see the effort you’ve put in, you might think, “I’m not going to stop now.”

Maybe the best idea behind “don’t break the chain” is “try to not break the chain.” Just do your best and don’t overwork yourself. Take it slow and small, but be consistent as often as you can.

Classic ‘don’t break the chain’ — without the calendar

People often use “don’t break the chain” without realizing it. Take Physicians Mutual’s Nancy V.

During the pandemic when Physicians Mutual employees were working remotely, she had a hard time getting comfortable at her makeshift workstation at home.

“I was used to moving around a lot in the office. You don’t realize how much you move in the average day — things like leaving your desk to make copies, file something, go to meetings, etc.,” Nancy said.

“I figured out I needed to move, so I started going on quick walks,” she said. “Maybe 10 or 15 minutes in the morning, and another 10 or 15 minutes in the afternoon.”

What started as a short walk (or two) every day to get relief from sitting too much became a daily habit.

“I felt so much better taking quick walks, that when we came back to the office, I continued doing it,” Nancy said. “I miss a day once in a while, but not many.”

Going on three years later, Nancy still walks nearly every day. With that habit fully ingrained, along with her healthy eating habits, she has kept off the 10 pounds she lost in 2020-21.

“When I first started my walks, I wasn’t thinking about trying to establish a new habit,” Nancy said. “But by walking every day, it became a habit, and is now part of my everyday routine.”

For tips to help you keep your New Year’s resolutions, we invite you to read Try these new tactics for old New Year’s resolutions.