Don’t Break the Chain
The Creative Rebellion • Dispatch #005 • 4.75 min read
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to not break the chain.
I've been a bit of a productivity nerd almost as long as I've been a creative. I've tried every method out there: Pomodoro, time blocking, the Eisenhower Principle, sprints, Kanban, to-do lists, to-do apps, time tracking apps, spreadsheets, et al.
I've used task and project management apps like: Basecamp, Asana, Monday, Clickup, Trello. (My favorite is Asana).
They all have their pros and cons, and some worked better for me than others (while I've talked to many people who prefer a different method or app than me).
But this year, I wanted to try something different.
I wanted to simplify the process.
Because sometimes maintaining the system takes as much time as the work itself. And doesn't that defeat the purpose?
Sidenote: when I talk about productivity, I don't mean it in the assembly line, "get as many widgets out the door as quickly as possible" way. I mean to use it as a method of making the best use of my time when working towards making progress on my goals and projects. I want to track what I have to do, when it needs to be done, and make sure I'm spending my time on the most important tasks.
Maybe you've heard the story about the time Brad Isaac asked Jerry Seinfeld how to be a better comedian. Seinfeld's answer was simple:
“The way to be a better comic is to create better jokes. The way to create better jokes is to write every day.
When Seinfeld was a young comedian, he committed to writing one joke a day.
Not an entire routine or even a whole monologue. Just one funny line.
He had a big 12-month wall calendar in his apartment. Every time he wrote a joke, he put a red ❌ on that date. Just one joke.
Before long he had a growing chain of red ❌’s on the calendar—a visual reminder of the work he put in day after day. Seinfeld shared that advice with Brad: Buy a big 12-month wall calendar and put a big red ❌ over every day you write. Once you start to see the chain form, you won’t want to break it.
Your only job is to not break the chain.
I like simple.
So I created my own habit tracker in a Baron Fig dotted grid notebook (Basically a hand-drawn version of the Baron Fig/James Clear Habit Journal). Columns are the days of the month, rows are the habits.
Every day I try to put an X in the square for each habit I'm tracking.
I’ve tracked my habits for 4 full months now and I’ve learned that that big ol’ ❌ is powerful. Seinfeld was onto something. It’s so simple, it works. My homemade habit tracker has more than just one habit to track. In fact, I've got 14 habits for May. And to be honest, I’ve broken several of the chains each month. But I’ve improved month over month. I’ve become more consistent. And that's the goal, not perfection, but consistency over time.
I'm playing the long game (the Infinite Game as Simon Sinek puts it). It works.
It plays along perfectly with what James Clear says in his book, Atomic Habits:
All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.
Every day I commit to taking one small action toward a bigger habit I want to develop.
What does this have to do with creativity?
Not all 14 of my habits are related to creativity (at least not directly). But I guarantee you, that whatever non-creative habits you track and grow, the creative ones work the same way.
You don't lose 10 pounds in a single day. You eat less calories than you need every day and exercise consistently, and over time you lose 10 pounds.
In the same way:
You don't write a book all at once. You write it over the words and pages and chapters it takes to write a complete book. So don't just write your goal down: write a book. Make it happen. Write a chapter a day. 1,000 words a day. 5 minutes a day. Whatever metric you want to use. And then track it. Mark the ❌ every day you complete it. Watch that chain grow and do your best not to break it. Before you know it, you will have written a book. And not only that, you won't write only when you feel inspired, you will have built the habit of writing every day.
If you’re really tired tomorrow and don’t feel like writing, take five minutes and do it anyway.
Seriously.
Build the habit.
Get the sketchpad out, pick up the guitar, build your email list, post on LinkedIn, splash some paint across the canvas. Spend a few minutes engaged in your craft. Then do it again the next day. And the next.
I mean it.
I guarantee, this tiny habit will gain momentum and expand. You’ll soon discover there is time to devote to your craft on a daily basis.
If you really want to lock this practice in, buy a 12-month wall calendar like Seinfeld did. Or a notebook. Either way, put an ❌ over each day you showed up and did the work.
And then don’t break the chain!
Until next Saturday...
Stay rebellious,
Travis
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