Tip #35: Track Your Early Wake-Up Progress

There’s a simple productivity trick that Jerry Seinfeld reportedly used to become one of the most consistent comedians of his generation. A young comic named Brad Isaac asked Seinfeld for advice at a club one night, and the answer had nothing to do with jokes.

As James Clear recounts Brad’s story:

“He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”

That’s it. A calendar, a marker, and one rule: don’t break the chain.

Why It Works for Waking Up Early

This method translates perfectly to building an early rising habit. Every morning you wake up at your target time, you mark an X on the calendar. After a week, you have a chain. After two weeks, you really don’t want to break it.

The visual streak does two things at once. First, it makes your progress concrete — you can see it on the wall, not just feel it vaguely. Second, it creates a small but real psychological cost to missing a day. That combination is surprisingly effective at keeping you on track, especially through the early days when the habit isn’t yet automatic.

It also adds a layer of public accountability — if your calendar is somewhere visible, it’s a daily reminder to yourself (and anyone who sees it) of what you’re working on.

How to Set It Up

Print a monthly calendar and hang it on the wall. Put it somewhere you’ll see it every morning — next to your bed, on the bathroom mirror, or by the coffee machine. You can generate a simple one-page calendar at TimeAndDate.com in seconds, or make one in any word processor.

Mark each successful morning with a big X. Use a red marker to make it satisfying and visible. If you want, write your actual wake-up time next to the X — it turns the calendar into a log as well as a streak tracker.

Keep it analog if you can. A physical calendar on the wall works better than an app for this purpose. It’s always visible, requires no phone, and serves as a passive reminder every time you walk past it.

One Rule, Consistently Applied

The whole system rests on one commitment: don’t break the chain. Once you’ve built a streak of a week or two, protecting it becomes its own motivation. You’ll find yourself getting up not just because you want to wake up early, but because you don’t want to break what you’ve built.

And if you do miss a day? Start a new chain immediately. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s consistency over time.

This tip works especially well alongside Tip #34: Create the Right Associations — combining a strong mental “why” with a visible daily record is a powerful combination.