August 23 | The Chain

Don’t break the chain: the same little task, every day, practicing scales, doing a couple of pushups, writing two little lousy pages, keep it up more than a couple of days and all of a sudden you have the beginnings of a narrative—you’ve gone from “needing to start something” to simply “needing to not screw it up.”

Break the chain: the story you tell yourself about those daily habits—the ones you can’t seem to kick—is just a bunch of words in your head. Take a day off of biting your nails, taking your negativity out on your coworkers, quitting your workout early, and you’ve broken the narrative.

In fact, you may find a new loop in your hand, one you could add to tomorrow—a new chain to not break.… Read the rest