Keep up your streak!
Are you a New Years resolution maker... and breaker?
You are not alone.
I am an expert on resolution breaking.
In the past, I would try 100 day challenges, and inevitably bounce around Day 17.
For me, and my neurodiverse brain, I'm am allergic to routine. I am consistently inconsistent.
If my inner monologue involves, "I'm going to do this EVERY DAY," it is the surest sign that it will not happen.
But I turned that around in 2024.
How?
Well, no BS, I know a new mental health med was a big help. That was part of it.
The bigger part?
Keeping streaks and making them real with visual trackers.
In June 2024, I piloted an executive functions workshop called Brilliant! How Visual Thinking Lights Up Your Mind.
In it, I teach what the executive functions are, and their inner-critic-fueling, dysfunctional partners.
One afternoon, two weeks after the successful pilot, I had a rush of inspiration.
I was totally revved up by response from the folks who joined me, and the new clarity from the freshly defined set of 9 executive functions.
(Executive functions have absolutely been defined by others, but in my research, I didn't find a consistent set. So, I made one.)
That afternoon, I penned the names and objectives of 12 visual tools/courses/guided exercises designed to boost specific executive functions.
The first of those ideas to cross the finish line, aptly enough, was Motivation Makers: Visual Trackers for 100% Project Completion.
These are the 3 primary executive functions most served with visual trackers:
| # | Core Question | Function | Dysfunction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | What is the ‘activation energy’ I need to get started? | Task Initiation | Procrastination |
| 4 | How orderly are my thoughts, projects, and materials? | Organization | Disorganization |
| 9 | Do I stay on task and get the job done? | Perseverance | Impulsivity |
Motivation Makers
Visual trackers for 100% project completion | One-year access
$297.00 USD
Today I am sharing a video from this course that gets to the heart of what changed for me in 2024.
This is the bigger part of what made me bust through my streak-breaking cycles:
- Using keeping a streak as a "don't eff this up, Agerbeck" motivator.
☝️ Streaks are not complicated.
a. Do the thing every day.
b. Don't break the daily streak. - Making sure what was considered a win each day was crystal clear and contained.
- Tracking my actions with a physical tracker.
☝️ Not digital, because that invites me to pick up the Distraction Box.
My people, it really comes down to the allure of a good ol' grade school STICKER CHART.
Now, there are much more sophisticated trackers in Motivation Makers.
I even defined 6 different project types and shared a tracker that works for each kind. And lots more good stuff.
But I want you to go into January 2024 with a great tool to succeed at keeping a streak — the Racetracker Tracker.
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The elements are simple:
- The horizontal band across the middle to name your challenge.
- A space for each day to mark you completed task with a sticker or coloring it in.
- A closed loop that gives you a sense of accomplishment.
- Four areas to draw out your what motivates you and getting organized.
It is that fourth one, getting into the details of organization and motivation that can get squirrely.
So, in the video I give you six different approaches on how to fill in those areas.
Watch them all.
Then pick the one you like best.
Underthink it.
And don't try Frankenstein parts from one into another.
Just pick one.
AND GO.
Happy New Year!
And at the end of January tell me what you accomplished with your streak.
✨The 12 Days of Vizmas✨
This post is the sixth gift in the series of a dozen days celebrating the gifts of visual thinking. Click here to see all the days >>
Now through January 7th, you can save 12% on Motivation Makers when you use the code VIZMAS upon checkout.
