Not Breaking the Chain: The Power of Small Wins in Building Momentum
Have you ever noticed how a single small action can snowball into massive success over time? Whether it’s exercising for 10 minutes or journaling daily, these tiny steps often lead to big results.
This is the essence of “Not Breaking the Chain,” a strategy that focuses on consistency and progress through small, manageable actions. The goal is simple: keep the chain going.
In this post, we’ll dive into how this method can help you build momentum and transform your goals into lasting habits.
What Is “Not Breaking the Chain”?
Originally popularized by comedian Jerry Seinfeld, the idea is to do something every day without breaking the streak, creating a visual chain of success.
Tools like habit trackers or calendars allow you to see your progress and motivate you to keep going. It is satisfying to get to check off the box or tick the item once done and before long the progress will become visible and feel powerful.
The Science Behind Small Wins
Micro Progress: Small wins release dopamine, the brain’s “feel-good” chemical, which fuels motivation to continue. These small victories add up, helping you stay on track.
Momentum Over Perfection: Taking small steps consistently is more effective than large sporadic efforts. Every small achievement and task completed helps to build our faith in ourselves as the kind of person who CAN accomplish goals. Momentum builds when we create patterns of achievement. It creates a positive snowball of trust and self-belief which then gives us confidence to go after bigger goals and experiment. We become confident to have a go at new things. We do small things often and THEN we get confident. It’s not about waiting to get confident before starting or you will never start. Remember that!
Using a Habit Tracker to Keep the Chain Going
Why Track It?: Habit trackers like the one in the image give you a sense of accomplishment. They offer a tangible way to see the chain and hold yourself accountable. It’s also satisfying to be able to look back at the end of a period such as a month or year and see the progress really add up and give you tangible proof of your momentum building day by day. It gives you something tangible to celebrate.
Tips for Success: Choose habits that are realistic. Even if it’s just 5 minutes a day, consistency is key. Don’t overburden yourself at the start. Start small and build up. You may not feel like a 5 minute workout does anything for your body but it does much more when it’s completed daily than a one hour workout done once in a blue moon. Start small and once a task becomes ingrained you can increase the time or add on a different item. It’s the foundational way of building trust in yourself to do what you say you will. It’s about building integrity in yourself with your own words.
How to Handle a Broken Chain
Life Happens; missing a day or breaking the chain is normal. What matters is how quickly you get back on track. In particular what you make it mean about yourself. I used to think to myself “I’m rubbish at building habits” when I had a one or two day gap in my habits. But nowadays if I have a gap I look into what happened and see how I can give myself compassion to allow the gap and pick back up where I left off. It’s not about starting all over but continuing from where you stopped. That is all. When you see habits in this way you are more like to return and keep going rather than decide you failed and give up new habits altogether.
Bounce Back: Create a plan for how to restart, like setting a goal to resume the chain immediately the next day. Reframe missed days as opportunities to improve.
Conclusion:
To sum it up: The key to success is in the daily grind, not in sudden bursts of effort. By focusing on small wins and not breaking the chain, you’ll slowly build the momentum needed to achieve larger goals.
Call to Action: Ready to start your own chain? Pick one small habit and track it every day for the next 30 days. Use a tracker like the one in the image or create your own. Share your progress in the comments below or on social media with #MyDailyChain.