Don’t break the chain – Luxafor

DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN: EXPLAINED

admin — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 10:08:25 +0000

Don't Break The Chain: Explained

Kristian, the CEO of Luxafor company, is sharing his experience with one genius habit building technique, how to tackle it and why it is the key to success in any industry. All in a simple, Q&A manner of explaining things.

What is Don't Break The Chain technique?

This technique has a great story behind it: Years ago, when software developer Brad Isaac was performing stand-up at open mic nights, he received the best advice ever from the already-famous comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

The advice was to simply make one specific and simple goal for yourself. And every day you meet your goal, mark that day out on a 365-day calendar with a big red X. After a few days, you’ll get a nice chain going.
The idea is not to break the chain.

This beautifully simple mental trick works surprisingly well. Looking at your past accomplishments provides motivation to keep going, and helps you stay focused on the present. It removes the daily decisions you subconsciously make: do I have time to do it? do I feel like it? Should I bother today? Just do it! Make it a part of your daily routine, and then don’t break the chain!

What can I use Don't Break The Chain for?

You can use this tool for literally any skill you want to teach yourself or a new habit you want to form, where you can practice a little bit each day. Some examples include:

Writing
Exercise
Learning a language
Household cleaning/chores
Setting limits
Reading
Meditation / Mindfulness
Drawing
Music / Practicing an instrument
Limiting sugar intake etc.

The possibilities are endless, really. The main point of this technique is to always stay on track and keep yourself accountable. I found for this to be the ultimate way to fix my procrastination problem on both smaller and bigger goals.

Source: Unsplash

How do I use Don't Break The Chain effectively? What kind of goals should I set?

The idea is to do something each day. Set a realistic goal. Something you can do even on days when you’re busy, or don’t feel like it, or are out of ideas.

If you’re writing, your goal could be to write something each day, anything. Or even better: write 500 words each day. If you’re drawing, do at least one sketch per day.

For exercise, just make it to the gym and do 5 minutes of something. Or try to do 30 minutes of exercise daily, starting with 30 minutes of stretching in the mornings for the first month and gradually building the strength of habit to do more intense workouts.

Your real goal is to form and keep a habit and to keep your mind engaged in your activity. Simply engaging your mind to your activity each day does wonders.

Of course, some days you can and should do more—you should try to push yourself—but by setting a goal you can do each day, you keep the habit, which is the most important aspect of Don’t Break The Chain technique.
You can’t practice something every day and not get better.

Source: Unsplash

Why does such a simple technique work?

I strongly agree with “One Percent Solution” — the concept by Allan Weiss that if you aim to improve yourself (or your business) by 1% each day, in only 70 days you’ll be twice as good as you are now. This begins with small steps. Pick one thing you want to get better at, and do it every day. Mark a big red X on that day. And don’t break the chain.

If you’re still skeptical about this concept, I encourage you to use a simple interest calculator online like the one shown below. Put in “1” for “Current Principle,” nothing for “Annual Addition,” “70” for “Years to Grow,” and “1” for “Interest Rate.” Leave the rate of compounding as it is, and then hit calculate.

As shown below, the result is just a bit more than “2.” It doesn’t matter that “years” rather than “days” are the unit of measure here. The point is that the original amount is compounded 70 times doubling the future value. You do the math of what can happen in 365 days of small daily investment of your time!

Can I ever take a day off?

Don’t Break The Chain is a technique you can use for motivation, but ultimately, you make your own rules. Sometimes you may find yourself burnt out, and the best thing is to take a day or weekend off.

“If you catch yourself getting burnt out, and you feel like taking a day off is the best way to help, by all means, do so.”

To give you an example, I first started using this technique for building a habit to exercise every day when I wake up. When a month had passed, I realized working-out every morning was too much, even though I did very light exercise at first. So I tweaked my own rules: my chain must go unbroken for 6 days straight and I could leave Sundays blank – to let my body recover. I don’t consider this breaking the chain, as long as the break is consistent, this will definitely work for you as well.

You could also put a red R on that day for recovery if you don’t feel like having a blank space due to physical constraints. Of course, if you can use this technique for something that doesn’t require any days off due to burnout, then do it!

Maximize the effect of this strategy by setting realistic and specific goals. It’s much better to choose a goal to “write 300 words each day” over a goal of “writing each day”. The more specific you’ll be with formulating your goal, the less likely you’ll be to procrastinate on it and break the chain.

Make your own rules, but also remember to re-examine your rules periodically to decide whether they’re working or not.

Source: Unsplash

What about taking weekends off?

Ultimately it depends on your goal and your own rules. I would highly recommend avoiding “weekends off’ whenever you can, as they have a tendency to grow into “forever off”.

Personally, I had set goals for more creative skills in the past two years. What I found was these skills benefited from practice every day, including the weekends, since I kept my brain engaged. For physical goals such as exercise, as mentioned before, it’s good to have recovery days anyways and taking weekends off may work better in some schedules or routines.

A great incentive not to break the chain would be to calculate how much time you’d lose in a year by skipping just two days a week every week for the whole year. That’s whole 8 days lost in a month. That’s 96 days a year! 96 days of potential growth totally wasted.

Why would you do such a thing to yourself? Why would you stop the rate at which you can learn? Just don’t break the chain!
So if you truly want to build a great habit or learn a new skill, stick to it daily and you’ll find yourself evolving quicker than you ever thought was possible!

Source: Luxafor

What about those days when I just don't feel like it? Do I get a "vacation"?

Well, you must commit to building a habit, which sometimes means doing things you don’t feel like at first. Trust me, it will become easier to “feel like it” once you’re on it. The most difficult part is to start.

But we’re all human, and I get it. It’s unrealistic to expect yourself to work on all your goals every day for the rest of your life. Sometimes you get sick and sometimes you need a break. That said, it just feels wrong to put an X on a day where you did nothing. It also feels wrong to break the chain for a reason beyond your control or for a hard-earned vacation. If you think of this process like a mini-job, however, the solution is simple: time off limits.

When you’re sick and can’t perform your duties, put an S instead of an X on that day. If you’re on vacation and cannot or do not want to perform your duties, put a V on that day. How many days do you get off? I just use the same rules as my job: three weeks per year including sick days.

You can follow the same benefits you get at work or just use the standard allotment: 15 vacation days and six sick days. That’s 21 days off you’re allowed in the whole year. Way less than the 96 days mentioned earlier, if you’d allow yourself the luxury and pain of taking every weekend off.

Remember, these are the boundaries I have set for myself, you can always tweak and find the formula that works the best for you. You only have to remember that you started this to build a daily habit or practice a skill every day. Why steal these precious opportunities to grow from yourself? Make sure you don’t break the chain – limit the total amount of days off.

Source: Unsplash

What's different from using a regular calendar or my phone?

Firstly, your phone is already such a distraction to your health that I wouldn’t recommend adding a new one with extra notification load.

Secondly, your average calendars have a huge problem: if you start your new habit or task later in the year, it creates a huge problem. The calendar will forever remain blank up until the day you decided to start your new habit.

That blank block can be extremely demotivating (trust me, I know, as that is exactly how my first attempt for the Don’t Break The Chain technique failed). So get a calendar that has the first day of your new habit-building chain right at the top, and then don’t stop!

You absolutely can use any other way but a specific Don’t Break The Chain calendar for this. Though I can almost guarantee that your motivation to proceed will not last past the first 7 days. That’s what happened to me in my first trial to tackle this technique.

Also, I don’t feel as much satisfaction checking something off on an app as much as I do, when physically crossing a day off with a big, fat, red X. And it is so much easier to hold yourself accountable when the chain is just there in front of your eyes. Something about the simplicity of it helps a lot.

And remember that this technique is all about finding what works best for you.

Source: Luxafor

Where should I put such a calendar for maximum motivation?

It depends, but the main rule to follow is to put it somewhere you’ll see it and it will remind you of your goals, as your brain works through the power of association and visualization.

If you habitually do a certain task in a certain place then your brain will begin to associate the physical and psychological states you’re in with that specific location.

For example, when you lay in bed, you typically feel tired even if you’ve only been awake for a few hours. When you go to a gym, you immediately get a burst of energy even if you were tired before. Use this to your advantage and create specific location-based anchors for important tasks – place the calendar in specific locations.

The way to find the best location for such a calendar is to follow these simple steps:

Figure where your chosen activity/ task/ habit/ would mainly take place (I like to divide this into simple sections home/ office/ gym/ everywhere)
Once you know where the activity will take place, figure the best location within that space to remind you of your set goals.

For example, if you decide to build a habit to go to the gym every day, the activity will take place in the gym. So for exercise goals, you could put the calendar by the entrance door of your house, and a mini-version in your gym bag.

If you wish to build a habit to write 200 words every day, the activity most likely will take place in the office. For such skill-building that will most likely happen in the workplace, put one on your desk or just pop a mini-version in your planner.
If you decide to build a habit of no TV after 8 PM every day, it is highly likely you’ll practice it at home. So to hold yourself accountable, place the calendar in the room where your TV is.

Ultimately the main rule is to place it somewhere where it’ll be in front of your eyes and bug you if it had a blank space on it breaking the chain.

Source: Luxafor

So where can I get this calendar?

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

The post DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN: EXPLAINED appeared first on Luxafor.

Mindfulness: Your Opportunity To Beat Stress And Burnout In The Workplace

admin — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 06:42:18 +0000

Mindfulness: Your Opportunity To Beat Stress And Burnout In The Workplace

Stress is a growing productivity issue worldwide and we have written about stress and burnout before. This is a topic that needs to be addressed again and again until all effective methods have been found and implemented in our everyday lives.

One of the widely discussed methods of avoiding stress is mindfulness – most of us have heard this term. But do we actually know what it means, understand how to interpret it and what the benefits of practicing mindfulness techniques are?

Origins of mindfulness

Mindfulness has a long history, originating from Buddhism knowledge, where the word actually means “moment to moment awareness of present events“, but also “remembering to be aware of something“.

Bear in mind that Buddhism started during the 5th century BCE. And, if mindfulness knowledge has survived for such a long time, there must be at least a moderate amount of truth in its practices.

Fast forward to the 20th century, when Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusets that sparked the application of mindfulness ideas and practices in a more modern approach. This program originally entails three formal techniques: mindfulness meditation, body scanning, and simple yoga postures. It is based on non-judging, non-striving, acceptance, letting go, beginner’s mind, patience, trust, and non-centering.

“Mindfulness Has Been Shown To Improve Focus, Regulate Emotions, Improve Cognitive Flexibility, And Protect Against Stress. It Involves Being Aware Of Your Thoughts And Allowing Yourself To Become Fully Present,” Says Psychologist Kim Chronister, PsyD.

Mindfulness nowadays and how to use it

Mindfulness is gaining increased popularity as a practice in daily life, apart from Buddhist insight meditation and its application in clinical psychology. It has grown considerably through time and acquired many definitions, all being focused on the same value: being in the moment.

Being in the moment entails avoiding rumination (past problems), worry (future problems), and distraction (present problems). There is always space for interpretation of terms like this, but the main focus of somebody trying to practice mindfulness should stay being in the moment and avoiding irrelevant stressors.

Based on this knowledge, any office can start to work on a mindfulness program. Companies like IKEA, Ford MotorCompany, Goldman Sachs, Proctor and Gamble and others already offer Mindfulness training for their employees and it’s working out really well for them.

There are several proven techniques you and your team can use to practice mindfulness and become mindful. So read on and inspire yourself to change yourself and your company for the better:

1. Practice breathing exercises

Source: Unsplash

Your breath can be a very grounding anchor to focus on, so why not try this technique for being in the moment? An easy way to make this a habit would be to stop everything you’re doing and focus only on your breath for one minute each hour. You can just focus on your inhaling and exhaling process by making it slower and taking deeper breaths, and get more advanced over time with special breathing exercises.

Breathing exercises are a great way to manage stressful situations and the best part is- you can practice literally anywhere.
One way to do this is to try the 3-1-5 technique, which will help you practice breathing exercises. Inhale for 3 seconds, hold your breath for 1 second and inhale for 5 seconds. If you do this for just one minute each hour, you’ll find yourself more focused and relaxed, which means better alertness towards tasks at hand.

You might wish to spend a little bit of time to take a look at this post for a complete in-depth guide to the science and methods of breathing techniques that will definitely help you achieve the results you crave for! In short, the ADAA recommends taking deep breaths and counting to 10 slowly.

There is a lot of information on achieving mindfullness through breathing on the internet, and you can check out this compilation of the best practices on dealing with anxiety from real therapists here.

You can also check out the Greatist top 6 under-10-minute breathing exercises to ease your mood immediately both in work environment and at home.

2. Meditate

Source: Unsplash

Meditation is one of the most powerful techniques of mindfulness. Whether you have never meditated before, need a refresher or are just getting started, there is no shortage of books, articles, apps and free videos and podcasts available. Try getting your hands on “Search Inside Yourself” by Chade-Meng Tan or use the “Stop, Breathe & Think” app for guided sessions.

If your budget allows, it is always a good idea to invest in a meditation professional who could come in and teach you and your team the best personalized techniques to use in the office and at home.

3. Tweak your morning routine

Source: Unsplash

The way you decide to start your morning can have a major impact on how the rest of your day will go. You can start your day randomly each morning if you want. But creating a repetitive, meaningful morning routine may be the better route to take if you’re looking for the most productive and stress-free use of your time.

Try to wake up with one alarm and ditch the snooze button, then have some time to yourself to become more present. For some, the ritual of a cold shower followed by morning coffee or tea could be the perfect mindfulness practice. For others – doing breathing exercises or meditating while still in bed. And we all know that technology is a major contributor to stress.

Try not to look at your phone, computer or TV screens first thing in the morning. This will definitely help you become more aware of yourself and your surroundings. The morning routine is something you have to personalize to your own needs, but don’t forget to base it on the interest of stress-free life.

4. Unplug and set boundaries

Source: Unsplash

In such a fast-paced world it is easy to forget to relax. Deadlines, obligations, society etc are making us think about irrelevant problems at irrelevant moments.

“People Generally Need To Detach From Their Work And Their Workspace To Recharge Their Internal Resources. Options Include Walking, Reading A Book In Another Room Or Taking The All-Important Lunch Break, Which Provides Both Nutritional And Cognitive Recharging,” Says John P. Trougakos, An Assistant Management Professor At The University Of Toronto Scarborough And The Rotman School Of Management.

The only way to reach mindfulness is to remember to unplug. What it means is basically leaving everything behind for a period of time.

No brain is built to work non-stop for 9 hours. Take many small breaks during the day to recollect the thoughts and manage tasks more efficiently. And, when you finally call it a day, don’t bring work home. Leave it there and instead of worrying about deadlines on your way home, focus on your plans for the weekend.

Oh, and don’t check your work emails during the weekend or vacation. Leave working hours for work and weekends for yourself. These are the times you should completely unplug from work stressors and enjoy your free time.

5. Create rituals that enhance your awareness

Source: Luxafor

One simple rule with mindfulness is to follow through each day, not just do something once-a-week, then forget about it. It is important to practice becoming more aware of yourself and your surroundings all the time, as the more you practice it, the more it comes naturally.

The best way to do this is to create rituals that you can do every day and make sure you don’t miss a day. Start small and simple. You could start doing breathing exercises before sleep. Or you could spend 2 minutes in the morning setting the mood for the day by telling yourself a great inspirational affirmation.

Maybe you could make a ritual of drinking calming tea in the evening, and while you’re at your cuppa, thinking about the day gone by and how you can improve tomorrow. Or take your first steps towards meditating by setting a timer to 5 minutes and try to clear your thoughts and not think about anything.

It could literally be any ritual that comes to your mind, as long as you pay close attention to something during that time. Your feelings, your surroundings, the colors, the sounds, the emotions, the memories… As long as you become aware of something, in time you’ll realize that you notice more and more things. And that is becoming aware – the ultimate goal of mindfulness.

But the toughest one with creating rituals is actually doing it every day. A solution to this would be to place a motivating calendar somewhere you’d see it every day. A calendar that is designed specifically for marking off each day you do the ritual and then staying in front of you and reminding to follow through each day, so you would not break the chain.

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

The post Mindfulness: Your Opportunity To Beat Stress And Burnout In The Workplace appeared first on Luxafor.