Keeping a streak
One thing every day, with an unbroken count of days as the rule
You do one thing every day and you count the days. Continuing then stops being a decision anyone has to make each morning, which is the whole point of counting. The first weeks take willpower. After that the run supplies its own pressure, and the daily question turns from whether to do the thing into what today's version will be. Writers, runners and language learners lean on it hardest, usually with a rule attached for what counts as a day completed. There is an obvious failure mode. People keep streaks long after the work behind them stopped being useful.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Seth GodinDoes it
Author · Seth's Blog, published daily
Eleven straight years of daily posts as of August 2019, and by his own reckoning no day missed since 2008. He describes the run as self-reinforcing: commitment hardens into a practice, the practice into a habit, and the daily question shifts from whether to post to what the post will say.
Source: seths.blog: Streaks“Streaks are their own reward. Streaks create internal pressure that keeps streaks going. Streaks require commitment at first, but then the commitment turns into a practice, and the practice into a habit. Habits are much easier to maintain than commitments.”
seths.blog: Streaks (opens in a new tab) · 8 Aug 2019
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under productivity.
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Daily reading
A fixed daily reading block, usually books rather than feeds
On record from 25 of 62 tracked people: 23 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Journaling
Writing to unload the mind, usually first thing or last thing
On record from 14 of 62 tracked people: 13 do it, 1 recommends it - HabitFREE, no cost
Early rising
A fixed, early wake time, often before anyone else is awake
On record from 11 of 62 tracked people: 10 do it, 1 has discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily writing
Write something every day, published or not
On record from 10 of 62 tracked people: 8 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily minimum workout
A floor you never drop below: 20 minutes of movement and recovery on your worst day
On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 4 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Phone-free first hour
No email, news or social media until you have done something of your own
On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 4 do it, 2 recommend it
Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.