The Seinfeld Strategy in Achieving Your Goals

Dear Colleague,

In our busy lives, it's easy to lose sight of our dreams in the day-to-day demands. But taking small, consistent steps can add up to big achievements over time. Like the Seinfeld Strategy says, do a little bit each day towards your goals, and before you know it, you'll have made real progress. It's an incremental approach that keeps momentum going, even when the road seems long. By chipping away at the task, we can dismantle any obstacle with patience and perseverance.?

The Seinfeld Strategy is a simple yet effective technique for building habits, popularised by comedian Jerry Seinfeld. As the story goes, when asked for advice by an aspiring comedian, Seinfeld suggested writing jokes every single day and marking it on a calendar. The key was to never break the chain of consecutive days. This regular commitment to a small amount of work leads to remarkable progress over time. By focusing on the?process?rather than the end goal, showing up day after day, we can chip away at any large undertaking. Though initially proposed for comedy writing, this incremental approach works for achieving any long-term goal, helping turn inspiration into action. With patience and perseverance, unbroken chains can lead to big results.?

Why It Works

The Seinfeld Strategy is grounded in the principle of daily progress. It’s not about monumental leaps, but rather about the accumulation of small, consistent actions. By focusing on the process instead of the product, the strategy sidesteps the paralysis that can come with goal setting.?

Set Your Goal

Begin with clarity. What do you want to achieve? Write a book? Learn a language? Run a marathon? The goal must be clear and measurable. “Write a page a day”, “practise for 20 minutes”, “run a mile”. The specificity is your roadmap.?

Mark Your Calendar

The physical act of marking a calendar has a psychological effect. It's a daily mini-celebration, an acknowledgment of your commitment. It becomes a visual affirmation of your dedication and, over time, that calendar becomes a mosaic of discipline.?

Maintain the Streak

The longer the streak, the more invested you become. It’s human nature to want to maintain what we’ve worked hard to build. Each consecutive mark on the calendar reinforces your?identity?not just as someone who writes or runs or studies, but as a writer, a runner, a student.?

Never Miss Twice

Perfection isn’t the goal; persistence is. You will miss a day. Life will see to that. But miss once, and that’s an anomaly (abnormality). Miss twice, and it's the start of a new pattern. So, if you stumble, make it your mission to not let it happen again the next day.?

Beyond the Calendar

The Seinfeld Strategy can transcend the individual. It can be a shared language among teams, a culture-building tool within organisations, and a bond between friends and family working towards common or individual goals.?

The Psychological Underpinning

This strategy aligns with several psychological theories that underlie habit formation and behaviour change, such as the “streak” feature in habit-tracking apps that taps into our intrinsic motivation, the consistency principle, where people align their actions with their commitments and identities, and the power of immediate rewards.?

In Practice

Implementing the Seinfeld Strategy doesn't require any special tools. A simple wall calendar and a marker are enough to begin. What it does require, however, is a commitment to not just mark the calendar, but to do so mindfully, reflecting on the work you've done and the work that lies ahead.?

The Seinfeld Strategy is an effective approach to habit formation and self-improvement. More than just tracking streaks on a calendar, it emphasises the value of small, consistent actions over time. Our biggest goals are achieved through daily progress, one step at a time. While the end destination is important, the unbroken chain of effort is sacred. Use this strategy to build unbreakable chains of progress: set a goal, mark a calendar with your repetitions, and stick to it day after day. With regular practice, you construct not just an external chain, but your best self. By focusing on the process, not just the end result, you can achieve your grandest ambitions incrementally. Start building your chain today, and your future self will thank you!

Warm regards

Henry