Why 'don't break the chain' creates an awesome habit.

Mental Toughness is a mindset and life skill that helps you make better decisions , whatever the circumstances.

You may not readily associate accomplished comedian Jerry Seinfield with being mentally tough, but he attributes a big part of his success to a habit that generates consistency in achieving his goals.

It's a habit you can develop too, starting today with an old-fashioned wall calendar, a thick red marker and plenty of resolve.

Seinfeld explains what he calls his “don't break the chain” practice and describes the momentum that this created.

He said “for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day on the calendar. After a few days I have a chain. I just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. I like seeing that chain, especially when I get a few weeks under my belt. My only job next is to not break the chain. Don’t break the chain.”

This is a simple but highly effective strategy for creating, maintaining and building your momentum. Having the powerful visual stimulus of the red chain on a calendar somewhere in your line of sight and being able to enjoy the satisfaction of adding to the chain once you have completed your daily tasks creates an enormous incentive to do so on a consistent basis.

Entrepreneur Aytekin Tank cites Seinfeld’s practice and attributes his own success to momentum ,which he describes below in an extract from his  “The science behind making a change that lasts” blog.

Not breaking the chain leads to momentum. And momentum isn’t mystical. Science defines it as the force that allows something to grow stronger or faster as time passes.

However, momentum isn’t the only science at work in our daily lives. Like everything else, it must have an equal and opposite reaction.

The enemy of momentum is friction and friction is the resistance caused when one object is moving at a different rate than another.

And what is life if not an infinite number of distracting meetings, ideas, goals, people, projects, emails, meetings, chores, and commitments all moving at a different rate than one another?

If you can’t kill friction, it’ll eat through your momentum like rust through a chain.

However, if you can find a way to focus on building a single goal, or “chain,” and building it well — the payoff might be more rewarding than you ever expected.

Sustained momentum toward a singular goal creates a compound effect . Which is, in essence, the concept that consistent, incremental changes can result in fundamental changes over time.

Thankyou Aytekin.

Focus and momentum are important aspects of mental toughness and represented mostly in the Commitment C within the MTQ mental toughness 4C’s framework, where those people with a high achievement orientation find ways to meet their goals and targets despite the friction that Aytekin Tank describes. They are consistent and persistent. They don't break the chain. 

To access Aytekin’s original and extended blog click here 

https://medium.com/swlh/the-science-behind-making-a-change-that-lasts-558328f41270

Photo by Paola Garcia on Unsplash

I’m an experienced mental toughness and leadership practitioner who advises and coaches business owners and leaders and their organisations.

As Co-Founder of Mental Toughness Partners, the leading specialist mental toughness (think resilience and confident mindset) and MTQ psychometric company in the southern hemisphere, I provide sales and support of AQR International products to coaches, leaders and their organisations throughout Australia, New Zealand and the SE Asia region.

To discuss further how we can assist you to measure and develop your mental toughness please contact me, Paul Lyons, via;

W: www.mentaltoughness.partners

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