Paper Clip Strategy

A salesman starts his day with two jars. One empty and one filled with 120 paperclips. Throughout his day he makes many sales calls and immediately after every call, he would move one paperclip to the other jar until the empty jar is filled with all the paperclips. 

Then he would start again. Why? 

Because by moving the paperclips to the other jar, the salesman sees his progress. The jar represents how far he is and how many he would need to call to achieve his desired goal.

This strategy is referred to as the paperclip strategy and it is a way to measure and track your habits. You can use this theory with multiple different objects. 

And the main idea of this strategy is to make the progress satisfying. 

Once you fill the jar full with marbles, paperclips or other objects, you will feel fulfilled as you have achieved your goal. 

Making it satisfying to work harder. 

The paperclip strategy is also a way for you to keep yourself honest as the evidence is right in front of you. 

In my experience, the paperclip strategy works the best when you are working on a stationary place. It is not recommended if you are constantly on the move as it might irritate you when you have to carry the jars and paper clips with you through different places.

If you are going to use this strategy, it is essential to make your goal measurable by having a clear intention on what you want to achieve. 

I also use the paperclip strategy in my personal life and here is a few examples on how I use this strategy in my daily life;

• For every 10 pages that I have read, I will move one coin to the other jar. 
• For every 10 push ups, I will move one bottle cap to the other jar.
• For every video that I have uploaded, I will move one marble to the other jar.

For your information, these are some examples on how I used the paper clip strategy in the past. As my progress proceeded I eventually stopped tracking because it became a long lasting habit. 

I still use this strategy for building new habits as I find this habit tracking strategy very effective.