Brad Isaac, a software developer for Persistence Unlimited and aspiring comic, once met Jerry Seinfeld at an open mic night at a club that Seinfeld had been working at. When the opportunity arose Isaac took to it to ask Jerry if he had any tips for young aspiring comics. Isaac said that what Jerry had told him that night would benefit him for a lifetime. Jerry kept it plain and simple, he said that best way to become a better comic was to create better jokes and the best way to create better jokes was to write every day. However what he said after that was one of the best pieces of advice he had ever received. Jerry had a specific leverage technique, or strategy, he used to motivate himself even when he didn’t feel like it and it was as simple as a calendar.

 

He explained how he bought a large wall calendar, the type of calendar that had the entire year on page, the next vital item was a big red magic marker. Jerry said that each day he did a task of writing he’d put a big red X over that day on the calendar. After a few days he’d have a chain of red X’s that just kept growing longer and longer, to the point where he enjoyed seeing the chain. He said his next job was to not break the chain.

 

Isaac started applying this technique to multiple different areas in his life and he started to see success within these areas after. His explanation was because it isn’t the one shot pushes that get us to those places we want to be in life but, the consistent daily effort that builds extraordinary outcomes. Our daily actions build habits and our habits create our lifestyle. If you don’t break the chain opportunities will arise in places that hadn’t normally and small improvements turn into large improvements, sort of like a compounding interest affect.

 

While this works for marking every day, it works the same way for skipping a day. Skipping one day makes it easier to skip the next. Bruce Lee once said, “I fear not the man who practiced 1000 kicks once but, I fear the man who practiced one kick 1000 times.” These everyday actions create a lasting effect and form our habits. So if you’re having trouble keeping on, do yourself a favor and buy a large calendar and a red marker.