This is How to Stick with Habits Using the Paper Clip Strategy

09
Jul 2019

When Norwegian Johan Vaaler invented the paper clip back in 1899, I am almost positive he would have never thought it would be used less than 120 years later to help people stick to habits. And I am even more positive that he would have never thought it would be used to help someone barter their way to a house.

We will begin with how it is used to help people stick to habits with a technique called the paper clip strategy. And later we will discuss how it was used by an enterprising Canadian to get a house.

Before we go any further, for those of you who may have been living under a rock, it may be a good idea to explain what a paper clip is.

A paper clip is simply a piece of bent wire that is typically used to hold multiple pieces of paper together.

I say typically because as you have seen in the first paragraph, apparently people use them for other things as well!

paper clip strategy

Let’s Start Off by Discussing How They Can Be Used to Help Us Stick to Habits

We all have habits that we want to be able to stick to. One way to accomplish this is to use visual cues.

In his best-selling book, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James Clear tells the story of a Canadian stockbroker named Trent Dyrsmid who used visual cues to make progress on his sales calls.

The story goes that Dyrsmid would begin the day with two jars on his desk. One jar would be filled with paper clips and the other jar would be empty. Every time that he would complete a sales call, Dyrsmid would take a paper clip from the full jar and place it in the empty jar. He would start the day with 120 clips in one jar and proceed to make calls until they were all in the other jar.  This is where the paper clip strategy originated.

As Clear says: “Within eighteen months, Dyrsmid was bringing in $5 million to the firm. By age twenty-four, he was making $75,000 per year—the equivalent of $125,000 today. Not long after, he landed a six-figure job with another company.” 1

Why Visual Cues Are So Powerful

Whether we are moving paper clips, marbles or hairpins from one jar to another or putting an x on a calendar, visual cues are powerful.

For one, they provide obvious evidence of our progress and secondly, they help reinforce our behavior and give us a satisfying small win.

Benefits of Tracking Your Habits Using Visual Cues

There are several benefits of using visual cues such as the paper clip strategy:

(1)  Hold Us Accountable

By using a visual cue, it is obvious as to whether we have taken action or not. This type of record can help hold us accountable and leverage our need to maintain congruency. Sometimes we may forget to take action, having a visual cue can be a great reminder to act.

(2)  Keep Momentum

We, humans, love streaks and love keeping streaks. By being able to monitor progress we are able to create momentum that incentivizes us to carry on!

(3)  Satisfying

Even though we have yet to reach our goal, seeing visual progress and taking a successful step can be very satisfying.

(4)  Helps Keep Your Eye on the Process

While there is no doubt that the end goal is important, we won’t get there without being focused on the process. Using visual cues such as the paper clip strategy are a great way to help us focus on the process. Not only can visual cues like the paperclip strategy help us in the short-term but we can use similar strategies for long-term success too. Recall a previous post on the Seinfeld’s Productivity Chain where we mark a red X on a calendar for actions we want to take on a daily basis.

Some Examples of Where We Can Use the Paperclip Strategy

There are many ways that we can use the paperclip strategy to help us stick to habits in our lives. Some examples may be:

  Making sales calls
  Sending emails
  Staying hydrated (use 1 paper clip for each glass of water you want to drink)
  Tracking your exercise
  Taking medication
  Reading
  Journaling
  Meditating
  Going to Bed/Waking Up on time

Now That We Have Seen How Paper Clips Can Be Used to Help Us Stick to Habits…

…it is time to see how it was used to barter for a house.

Back in 2005 and 2006, a Canadian named Kyle MacDonald made a series of 14 trades over the internet moving from a red paper clip to a house in the tiny town of Kipling, Saskatchewan.

The list of 14 trades looked like this:

  On July 14, 2005, he went to Vancouver and traded the paperclip for a fish-shaped pen.

  He then traded the pen the same day for a hand-sculpted doorknob from Seattle, Washington.

  On July 25, 2005, he traveled to Amherst, Massachusetts, with a friend to trade the doorknob for a Coleman camp stove (with fuel).

  Then on September 24, 2005, he went to California and traded the camp stove for a Honda generator.

  On November 16, 2005, he traveled to Maspeth, Queens and traded the generator for an “instant party”: an empty keg, an IOU for filling the keg with the beer of the bearer’s choice, and a neon Budweiser sign. This was his second attempt to make the trade; his first resulted in the generator being temporarily confiscated by the New York City Fire Department.

  On December 8, 2005, he traded the “instant party” to Quebec comedian and radio personality Michel Barrette for a Ski-Doo snowmobile.

  Within a week of that, he traded the snowmobile for a two-person trip to Yahk, British Columbia, scheduled for February 2006.

  On or about January 7, 2006, he traded the second spot on the Yahk trip for a box truck.

  Then on or about February 22, 2006, he traded the box truck for a recording contract with Metalworks in Mississauga, Ontario.

  On or about April 11, 2006, he traded the contract to Jody Gnant for a year’s rent in Phoenix, Arizona.

  On or about April 26, 2006, he traded the year’s rent in Phoenix for one afternoon with Alice Cooper.

  Then on or about May 26, 2006, he traded the afternoon with Cooper for a KISS motorized snow globe.

  On or about June 2, 2006, he traded the snow globe to Corbin Bernsen for a role in the film Donna on Demand.

  On or about July 5, 2006, he traded the movie role for a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan. 1

You simply cannot make this stuff up!

The only question I have is…I wonder if he used the paper clip strategy to help him make each of those 14 trades…

Until next time, keep using the paper clip strategy and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

P.S. Wanna know more? Check out the entire book.

paper clip strategy

Use it or Lose It – Paper Clip Strategy

Use the paperclip strategy to help you stick to and track your habits by moving paper clips, marbles or hairpins from one jar to another.

When to Use It

Use the paper clip strategy to help you stick to and track various habits in your life when you would benefit from a visual cue.

What Do You Think?

Do you use the paper clip strategy or something similar to help you stick to or track habits in your life? Do you have another strategy you use? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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References

1 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip

3 http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/p/one-red-paperclip-project.html

6 Replies to “This is How to Stick with Habits Using the Paper Clip Strategy”

  1. Visual cues display your progress on a behavior. Everyone knows consistency is an essential component of success, but few people actually measure how consistent they are in real life. The Paper Clip Strategy avoids that pitfall because it is a built-in measuring system. One look at your paper clips and you immediately have a measure of your progress.

  2. The visual tracking obviously works . It motivates and helps one stay on track. The coincidence lies in that my grandson was given this book ” Atomic Habits” to read by his dad. I scanned it briefly while I was visiting. It looks like a good read. Thanks Rick.

    1. Hi Eileen, Visual tracking does definitely work for some. I’ve read Atomic Habits, definitely a good book on habits as is The Power of Habit by Charles DuHigg. Thanks and be good, Rick

  3. I have heard about the paper clip trade story, but was not aware of the intermediate items that were traded. I would think the most difficult trade would be the first one – really, what is a paper clip worth? Of course, with factoring in all the travel costs, the trades really were not quid-pro-quo.

    About the closest we come would be X-ing days off the calendar, and crossing out items on a list of things that we need to do. The Christmas advent calendars perform the same function for kids – open one tab per day. They can then practice counting down the number of days left until the goal.

    1. Hi Dave, Good points and it’s true about the first one being the hardest. Your strategy of X-ing off the calendar and crossing out items is a great example, as is the advent calendar, thanks for sharing! Rick

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