I read about a productivity technique on Lifehacker that is used by Jerry Seinfeld. You just X off a day on the calendar every time you meet your goal. If you X off each day week after week, they connect together and make a chain. We've all crossed off days on a calendar before but the real secret to this, I think, is the little mantra "don't break the chain."
I've been using this with B the last few weeks. We keep a calendar in the car and he crosses off each day he is on time for school. It's more fun to remind him to hurry in the morning so we "don't break the chain" instead of telling him we're going to be late. And it seems to be working!
I found a little tool that lets you print out a simple calendar on one page. It's at pdfcalendar.com. I made a 12 week calendar so the days were square boxes. You can even make a calendar that has 52 weeks or more on a single page, but obviously the boxes are much smaller.
7 comments:
you always have the best ideas-- where do you find this stuff???
aren't you just the cutest mom ever!
Don't break the chain? Sounds like a way to make your kid a little neurotic.
I like the idea of giving kids their own calender as a way to give them a bit of scheduling responsibility though.
Hi Molly...hmmm, never thought about it making him neurotic, it seemed to me like a positive way to keep track of a goal. Right now he seems to be enjoying the satisfaction of crossing off each day, but if it starts stressing him out, I'll rethink the strategy. :o)
Sounds like a Fleetwood Mac song in the making... :)
My husband read the same article on Life Hacker and we use the "chain" technique around here too!
Thank you! This calendar is going to come in handy for me. I participate in a photo-a-day group on flickr and you have to list the day number. I am constantly trying to figure out what day of the year it is. This is a great tool for me!
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