The blog for the book, “Nudge,” recently quoted Jerry
Seinfeld’s approach to keeping up his writing. He revealed a unique calendar system he uses to pressure himself to
write:
"He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page
and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic
marker.
He said, 'For each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain. Don’t break the chain.'
“Nudge” is written by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, and looks at how situations can be structured so as to encourage desired behaviour. Here are a few nudges I suggest for writers:
Stopping your writing for the day in the middle of a sentence or at least in the middle of a paragraph, so that you know what to write the moment you resume writing;
Having all the necessary resources ready at the start of a writing session;
Turning off your phone and your email while you’re writing;
Telling a friend what your writing goals are, week by week, knowing that they’ll ask whether you’re reaching them (if necessary, ask them to keep asking you every week).
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