My personal training clients know I’m a big fan of the checkmark.

Complete an exercise and then proudly check it off.

“I want to see lots of checkmarks on your workout sheet at our next session,” I say. “The messier the page the better!”

A well-worn sheet with a few sweat stains, along with notes and questions jotted in the margins tells me there’s been lots of action (and therefore progress) between our sessions.

Writer James Clear, author of the bestseller Atomic Habits, is also a fan of employing visual cues to help create habits.

But instead of the checkmark, he favours the paperclip.

Ten things to do today? He says to place 10 paperclips on your desk and then move them one at a time into a cup as you complete each task. I love this!

Click here to read more about using the simple paperclip to create and maintain a new habit.