A Good Start to the Day

Martin Luther, whose actions sparked the Protestant Reformation, recommended a very manageable start to the day. He wrote:

In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Not bad. Then he suggests repeating the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, but let’s not get too fancy here. It is hard to focus just on the practice itself, not on everything else we pile on top of it.

At least that’s what comedian Brad Isaac learned when he met a comedy legend. In an interview with Lifehacker, he described bumping into the incomparable Jerry Seinfeld backstage at a club and asking him if he had any advice. Seinfeld suggested that the young comic buy a massive calendar and hang it on the wall. Write a joke every day. Then mark that day with a red X on the calendar.

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 is to not break the chain.

Martin Luther and Jerry Seinfeld would probably agree. Don’t worry about everything. Focus on the small. Start tiny. And keep it up. Try not to break the chain. But if you do, just blink. And start a new one.