Keeping up a habit every day is a classic hack.
But thats just the first step.
You find out who youreallyare after you break your streak.
If you only do a thing occasionally, forcing yourself to do it every day will change your life.
For example, I had a good streak going this summer in the New York Times crossword app.
Otherwise the icon is blue.
The app only counts a puzzle toward a streak if you earned a gold icon.
NYT crosswords are easy(ish) on Mondays, and get harder as the week goes on.
I also discovered that Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays were only tough, not impossible.
But a streak is just your training wheels.
Five years from now, you will not look back ruefully at that one day you missed.
So your habit has to outlast the streak.
What happens when you break your streak?
Ivewritten beforeabout one streak I broke: closing my rings on the Apple Watch.
Breaking it was a relief.
The crosswords went a little differently.
One Saturday I was sitting on the porch struggling with a tough crossword.
It didnt have a clever gimmick like the Thursdays or the Sundays.
It didnt feel challenging in a fun way.
It was just boring.
I had a sudden realization:why am I spending my Saturday like this?
I could go do something else.
The streak had served its purpose, and I had outgrown it.
Who are you without your streak?
Think Obi-wan dying, or that inexplicable thing with Elsa in Frozen 2.
Thats what happens after you break your streak.
Youre on your own now.
Which crosswords do youwantto do?
How many days of exercise are optimal for your goals?
By the time you break a months-long streakwhether by accident or on purposeyou dont need the streak anymore.
Youre on your own, free, with a bright future ahead of you.
