In 1993, a bank in Abbotsford, Canada, hired Trent Dyrsmid, a 23-year-old stockbroker.
Dyrsmid was a newcomer, so no one at the company expected much of his performance. Moreover, Abbotsford was only a small suburb compared with neighboring bustling Vancouver. Email services such as AOL and Hotmail would not appear until 2-3 years later. At the time, geography still mattered greatly to business success, and Abbotsford was not a promising place for lucrative deals.
Despite many disadvantages, Dyrsmid immediately made progress in stockbroking thanks to a simple, consistent habit he practiced every day.
He placed 2 jars on his desk: one empty and one containing 120 paper clips. Trent Dyrsmid shared: “Every morning I begin with 120 paper clips in one jar and keep making calls until I have moved them all into the second jar.”
He made 120 phone calls a day, with each call corresponding to one paper clip.
Within just 18 months, Dyrsmid's sales reached USD 5 million. At age 24, he was earning USD 75,000. Within a few years, his impressive performance attracted other companies, and he landed another job paying USD 200,000.
Habits of success and habits of failure
Regarding his habit, Dyrsmid said simply: “I start making calls at 8 a.m. every day. I never look at stock prices or research analyses. I do not read the news during that time either. If something truly important happens, I will hear about it another way.”
Trent Dyrsmid's story proves a simple truth: success is often the result of following principles day after day.
Look back at our own story. We want to exercise regularly but can barely get ourselves to the gym. We know we should say thank you more, eat more healthily and read more books. Yet we seem unable to find the motivation to do those things. We want to reach our goals but keep procrastinating.
The power of visual cues
I believe the ‘Paper Clip Strategy’ works because it creates a visual cue that motivates you to practice a habit consistently:
Visual cues remind you to begin a behavior. We often overestimate our ability to remember the habits we need to carry out. (“Starting tomorrow, I will eat more healthily. This time I mean it.”) Yet a few days later, we gradually lose motivation and become caught up in our busy lives. Relying on memory will lead to failure. That is why visual cues can be so useful in helping you maintain more positive habits.
Visual cues show your progress in carrying out a behavior. Consistency is essential to success, yet few people actually measure how consistent they are. The paperclip strategy gives you a ready-made measurement system: simply look at the paperclips to see your progress.
Visual cues reinforce motivation. When you see yourself improving every day, you naturally feel motivated to maintain the habit. The more paper clips you put in the jar, the more motivation you have to finish your work.
Create Your Own Paper Clip Strategy
There are many ways to use the Paper Clip Strategy to achieve your goals:
– Want to do 100 push-ups a day? Start with 10 paper clips. Every 10 push-ups correspond to 1 paper clip. Repeat 10 times during the day.
– Want to send 25 sales emails a day? Start with 25 paper clips and move one to another jar each time you press ‘Send.’
– Want to drink 10 glasses of water a day? Start with 8 paper clips and move one to the other jar each time you finish a glass.
Trent Dyrsmid believes success in his field requires just one task: making lots of sales calls. He discovered that mastering the fundamentals makes the difference.
The same applies to achieving goals. There is no special secret or instant method. Good habits are what help you overcome everything.
Collected.
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