This morning, I leaned over Chris’ shoulder to see what he was working on and noticed numbers stamped on the loose paper he cuts into small squares from discarded paintings, for the little portraits and landscapes he makes based on sketches he has done throughout the week.

“Why numbers?" I asked.

"I do it to take the work seriously,” he said.

A bound book, like a sketchbook, makes it harder to discard work-in-progress, but loose paper is easy to throw out, he said. Numbering makes it a little bit harder.

Chris' daily painting habit is like Twyla Tharp's daily visits to the gym.

And numbering pages reminded me of Jerry Seinfeld’s “Don’t break the chain” method for writing every day: Get a big wall calendar and a red marker. Pick a goal, do it every day, and put a big red "X" on the calendar when the task is complete, then don't break the chain. Seinfeld credits this technique with helping him get better at writing jokes.

Counting has definitely worked for me in the past but I rarely use it because I have trouble deciding what to commit to, getting caught up on "Why?" Nevertheless, last year, for one year, I wrote a blog post weekly for 52 weeks, rarely breaking the chain.

Unfortunately, when I reached my goal, and stopped counting, I stopped writing.

It is easy to let a habit go but just like the existential “Why” can stop me from starting, a big picture event can get me going again. In this case, it’s my birthday, coming soon, a reminder of time passing, and time to start counting, and writing, again.