Get Rid of ‘Zero Days’ to Be More Productive Long-Term

Productivity hacks often revolve around making intricate to-do lists every morning and finding a way to get into “deep work” for sustained periods throughout the day. Those sorts of heavy lifts are important, yes, but finding a way to make small, incremental progress is just as good if that’s what works for you. For long-term goals, consider adopting a “no zero days” mentality.

What are zero days? 

Zero days are any day where you don’t accomplish anything toward a goal, which means non-zero days are any where you do accomplish something, even if it’s small. The idea of working a little bit every day isn’t entirely novel, but the concept of “zero days” comes from a decade-old Reddit post that started a small movement online.

In the original post, the author says that even if you do nothing all day when you have an essay due in the future, writing a single sentence at 11:58 p.m. counts toward not having a zero day. By acknowledging that any work, no matter how small in comparison to the overall project, is important and meaningful, you can be more motivated and build toward bigger accomplishments bit by bit, stopping you from getting overwhelmed. 

How to have no zero days

The first step to having no zero days is just committing to it. If you find that taking on a bunch of tasks during a day is hard, this could be the solution for you, provided you set long-term goals. Completing small tasks, of course, also counts toward having a non-zero day, but this method is especially helpful if you have something major to do and are dreading it. Chipping away will keep it all manageable.

The second step is accountability, whether to yourself or others. On Reddit, where this all began, there’s a community called NonZeroDay where people post the small things they accomplished that day. They write their long-term and short-term goals, then share what they did to move toward them, which is the right idea: Writing out your goals makes it much easier to achieve them, especially if you write them in a way that incorporates how you’ll measure success and when you plan to finish. 

If you don’t want to be public about your non-zero days, you should still keep track of your progress. Similar to the “don’t break the chain” method, this will allow you to see your progress, which is motivating, too. Seeing how many non-zero days you’ve racked up in a row will push you to keep doing it. You can enter this information into your notes app, a single source of truth file related to your ultimate goal, or a planner.

Overall, this is all about getting into a mindset that allows you to relax about your goals, not put pressure on yourself to get everything done at once, and celebrate your wins, even if they’re small. If you are a procrastinator or someone who dreads getting to work, this one’s for you.