I’ve known for a long time that need to exercise more and eat healthier. I’ll do real good for a few days, a few weeks, or sometimes even a few months, but I always seem to return to my old habits. I’ve blogged before about how much I hate to exercise, even though it is a negative-time activity.

My most successful exercise regimen ever was between August 26, 2004 and October 4, 2004. I set a goal to walk for at least 45 minutes every day for 40 days in a row. I met that goal, and then took day 41 off. I noted in my journal that I found myself wanting to walk that day. I walked the day after that, then took a long break from it and never did get back in the groove. Since that time, I’ve had occasional success walking for a few days in a row, but nothing coming close to this stretch and the building of a habit.

I remember that one of the ways I motivated myself was to build a paper clip chain. It was just a simple chain of paper clips that hung by the door of my home office. When I would return from my walk each day, I would add one more paper clip on the chain. When I had added 10 more paper clips, I would change colors. This made it easy to tell how many days I had been successful and how close I was to my goal. Because of this, I found the paper clip chain to be very encouraging.

It’s hard to believe that was three years ago! I’m going to do the same thing again, with the same 40-day goal. I walked around my neighborhood for an hour this morning, so that is Day 1. The chain looks really short today, but in a week it will be a lot longer and more encouraging. Every time I walk out of my office I will see it and should be motivated and encouraged by it.

I’ve tried electronic systems for this, such as Joe’s Goals on the Internet, and HabitSuccess for the Palm (no longer available for purchase). I like the interface of both programs, and they are both enjoyable to use. However, neither one of them seems to motivate and encourage me as much as a paper clip chain. I guess that for some of us, atoms are better than bits, at least for some activities.

So, I’m curious. Have any of my other readers tried building paper clip chains, or other similar methods of charting your success, and motivating and encouraging yourself? If so, how well did they work for you? Is anyone willing to join me in building their own paper clip chain to help them form a habit in some area of their life?