LEAF Peepers: Collecting Green Dots

I once heard that Jerry Seinfeld had a simple but strangely effective technique for motivating yourself to stick with some daily goal. He had a dedicated calendar for that goal and would mark the day with a red "X" each time he did his task. Then, as he explained, “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.”

The iPhone app called "Wonderful Day" gives you the ability to do a digital version of a "Seinfeld Calendar". You set up your goals and which days of the week you intend to do them. As you complete them, you get a green dot. Most people who know me well can tell you that it gets me out and running in all sorts of horrible weather and through a variety of injuries for fear of the dreaded red dot.

Wonderful Day has been great keeping me motivated to run.

It hasn't worked quite as well getting me to tidy every day!

Our Nissan LEAF gives me another way to collect green dots. When you are regenerating power to the battery the dashboard display uses green dots to show you how much power you are making on a scale from one to four. Like the "Wonderful Day" app it is strangely motivating. I find myself looking in the rearview mirror figuring I can coast down the hill to the red light collecting green dots if there is nobody behind me.