The Curse of Habit Streaks
How forgetting to meditate sparked a series of thoughts, a semi-viral tweet, and my excitement to be a "maker" again.
Heyyyyyy, friend! š
Welcome to the very first edition of The Bumpy Rideāthank you for joining me! š
I used to meditate every day, until I broke my 100-day streak. š¬
āDonāt break the chain.ā
āNever miss twice.ā
Yes, exactlyā¦ But eventually, I will. Then what?
Thatās the problem with streaks and advice like that. They encourage you to keep going and maintain a habit for as long as possible, but they donāt tell you how to get back on track when you inevitably fall off the wagonābecause you will, thatās just life! š¤·š»āāļø
For me, losing that streak is extremely demotivating.
I call it āThe Curse of Habit Streaks.ā
Some habit trackers let you skip days to save your streak, but that feels like cheating. If I can skip daysāas many as I wantāand still keep my streak, then whatās the point of the streak? š¤
The reality is that habits are all about momentum, not streaks. The longer you keep up a habit, the more momentum you build up, and the harder it becomes to break that habit.
I had meditated for 100 days straight. Thatās a lot of momentum that canāt vanish in just a few days, let alone overnight!
But streaks donāt care. Zero it is! š¤¬
Some people donāt get too attached to their habit streak. Itās just a number, after all. But I do, and I canāt help it. Once it breaks, it puts me down and makes me feel like Iāve lost all of my progress.
Iāve never come across a habit tracker that takes the real nature of habits into accountā¦
Momentum, not streaks.
No habit trackers differentiate a 5-day break on day 10, from a 5-day break on day 100. The first one ruins your momentum. The second is hardly a blip! š¤š»
Thatās why Iām building š»āāļø Polar Habitsāa habit tracker with no streaks and a āmomentum systemā instead.
It started as a spreadsheet I built for myself, but I quickly realised Iām not the only one whoās had to face the curse of habit streaks.
Iāve always wanted to build something, to be a āmakerā of software on the Internet, and this felt like the greatest opportunity thatās come my way in a long time! š¤©
I hope what you take away from this post is the acknowledgement that habits are a lot more than the streaks we attach to them.
If you find breaking your streaks painful too, youāre not alone. I feelĀ your pain! š¤š»š¤š¾
In a future post, Iāll explain how Iām tackling the problem with the momentum system Iā¦ invented?
I feel insecure and reluctant about using that term, but I did design and create something that didnāt exist before (that I know of) soā¦ by definition, I think that qualifies? š
Thank you for joining me on my bumpy ride! š
Merott