Daily effort and 30-day challenges are great. But if you miss a day, don’t let it shake you off your path. Breaking the chain doesn’t mean you failed or are incapable of doing the thing every day. It doesn’t mean you can’t create great habits. It just means that the next day you might want to make doing the thing a priority. It’s okay to break the chain, particularly if you get right back on your path.
Tagged with: commitment, don't break the chain, habits
I love doing genealogy research, but I often have trouble finding time to do it. Because it’s seldom urgent, it falls to the bottom of the priority list, like so many enjoyable things. Since I blog at my other blog, Organize Your Family History, it’s important for me to do the research so I have genealogy-related things to blog about. But, as I said, it can be a challenge to find time.
Tagged with: commitment, don't break the chain, exercise, habits
I was perusing one of my favorite blogs, Unclutterer and saw my colleague Deb Lee’s recent post about two new-to-me productivity apps, Wonderful Day and iDone This
Tagged with: apps, don't break the chain, productivity, task list, time management
I think habits and routines are incredibly important for making life easier and achieving what you want. The routines I have created have helped me, a naturally messy person, maintain a semblance of order in my home.
Tagged with: don't break the chain, email, exercise, habits
On January 2, I cleared my inbox down to zero email messages. And since then i’ve done it every work day except two, when I was out of town without my computer. That’s nearly five months of inbox zero at least five days a week. (I usually do it on the weekends as well.)
Tagged with: aby garvey, accountability, blogging, don't break the chain, email, habits, productivity
I’ve written here before about Don’t Break the Chain as a tool for helping create daily habits. The concept is that once you do something a few days in a row (which can be aided by marking a calendar), you psychologically don’t want to break the chain and you’re motivated to do the activity again.
Tagged with: blogging, don't break the chain, email, habits, productivity
For the last ten days, I’ve been using habitforge to help me create the routine of putting my clothes away properly at the end of the day (something I’ve had trouble with for years). I’ve found it very motivating.
Tagged with: accountability, don't break the chain, habitforge, habits, routines
As I’ve written about before, I’ve had some success in recent years in creating some really meaningful habits. For example, I now automatically clear my desk at the end of each workday. That allows me to hit the ground running in the morning and helps me keep my head clear about what I need to do. I used the Don’t Break the Chain method to help me build that habit.
Tagged with: clean bureau, clean desk, don't break the chain, habits
Discipline is an interesting word, isn’t it? When it’s used to express how one person interacts with another (a parent disciplining a child, for example, or an employer disciplining an employee), it has negative connotations. It’s no fun to have someone discipline you and, I can imagine, it’s not fun disciplining someone else.
Tagged with: don't break the chain, habits, routines
Here are a few little updates to past blogs posts.
Tagged with: butler bag, container store, don't break the chain, habits, playing for change
I’ve written here many times about Don’t Break the Chain, a website that has been effective in helping me establish some routines (like cleaning off my desk every night, blogging regularly and, now, making sure the top of my bureau stays clean).
But there’s another game in town I’d like to shine a light on. It’s Joe’s Goals, a free website that allows you to track your daily goals. I use it regularly as well, though for a few months I’d let it fall by the wayside.
Tagged with: don't break the chain, joe's goals, routines
On January 5, 2008 I resolved to clear my desk off every day at the end of the workday. I envisioned sitting down at my desk every morning with a clear desk and hoped that it would help me start the day on the right foot.
Tagged with: clean bureau, clean desk, don't break the chain, habits, routines
Sometimes I feel like a broken record when I write here (or in my newsletter) about the importance of routines. It’s just that I’m reminded very frequently about how much of an impact they can have on order, productivity and overall peace of mind.
Tagged with: don't break the chain, joe's goals, jott, productivity, routines, travel
Deadlines used to rule my life. When I was making my living as a writer, deadlines were absolutely everything. I didn’t start a story earlier than necessary to make my deadline. I don’t think in 12 years (and well over a hundred articles, along with eight books) I turned anything in early.
Tagged with: accountability, commitments, deadlines, don't break the chain, knitting olympics, writing
My point: I didn’t clear off my desk yesterday before ending the work day. The reason is that end of the work day didn’t involve my desk. But still, it was a shock to arrive at my desk this morning and see some clutter on it. The worse part is that it was very little clutter—it would have literally taken about 60 seconds or less to put everything away.
Tagged with: accountability, clean desk, desk, don't break the chain, ikea, motivation, sally brown
Back at the beginning of 2008, I blogged about my constant craving for order as reflected in my January 1 journal entries year after year
Tagged with: clean desk, don't break the chain, goals, habits, new year, productivity
As I’ve endlessly documented in this blog, I vowed this year to form the habit of clearing my desk at the end of each work day. The idea was that I would start work each morning with a clear desk, a clear mind, and major productivity. It’s something that I’ve strived for for decades and never been able to achieve.
Tagged with: accountability, clean desk, desk, don't break the chain, motivation, productivity
I love having a blog. The freedom to write whatever I want is wonderful. (Way, way back in the day I had a column in PetLife magazine in which I could write whatever I wanted. It was exhilarating.)
But that freedom is a two-edged sword. With little structure surrounding what to write, and no deadlines, it can be very difficult to (1) take the time to post to my blog and (2) come up with something remotely meaningful to write.
Tagged with: blogs, don't break the chain, michael neill, routines, steven pressfield, time management, writing
This year I’m a quest to save time and be more productive. It’s going well. Thanks to the techniques found in Mark Forster book, Do It Tomorrow (link in the Links section at right) and Don’t Break the Chain I’m more productive than I’ve been in a long time.
Tagged with: don't break the chain, jott, mark forster, productivity, time management
The habit I’ve been trying to instill with the Don’t Break the Chain method that I wrote about in a recent post is clearing my desktop at the end of the workday.
Tagged with: accountability, clean desk, decluttering, desk, don't break the chain, goals, habits, motivation, productivity, time management, workspace
As part of my new emphasis on time management this year, I started off the new year by checking out some productivity blogs. I came across this great post on the wonderful blog Lifehacker that introduced to me a concept that in just a few short days has really had an impact on me.
Tagged with: clean desk, don't break the chain, goals, habits, motivation, time management