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Hey Reader,

"Last week, I reached a significant personal milestone in my journaling journey: my 600th consecutive daily gratitude journal entry.

I'm pleased with this achievement and happy to share it with you all!

Yet, I can't help having some complicated feelings about focusing too much on what productivity nerds like me call streaks, which celebrate doing something consistently without missing a day.

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There's an App for That

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​Streaks have a place in getting things done. They can help maintain motivation and push us through those days when we don't feel like doing the thing.

Often, the approach is gamified, making it feel less like a chore and more like a short-term achievement.

Here are a few applications that make regular use of streaks:

​Day One, my journaling app of choice, celebrates streaks by updating the count daily when you've completed an entry and with an attractive badge that is easily sharable (see above).

The Apple Watch helps people keep their fitness streak alive by sending reminders to close the rings every day and sharing positive reinforcement when they've done so.

​Duolingo, the language learning app, sends increasingly desperate notifications as the day progresses. Do you really want to lose your progress in learning Spanish and end your streak?

​Kindle on iOS and iPadOS tracks your weekly and daily streaks, prominently displaying them beneath the often-used From Your Library section.

Task Management apps like Todoist and Things use streaks to help you get stuff done and stay motivated.

The eponymous Streaks app helps you explicitly maintain your progress and keep your streaks alive.

I'm confident these apps, and many others, include streaks because they're good for business. Positive reinforcement largely improves the user experience and keeps people coming back to the application.

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A Different Approach

Some apps see the challenges with always-on productivity and follow a different philosophy.

Todoist offers a vacation mode to prevent progress loss and lets you set weekends (or any day) as a break.

Duolingo allows you to buy or earn streak breaks, so you aren't penalized for taking a day off.

The fitness app Gentler Streaks brings a fresh perspective to blending motivation with well-being, which is at the root of its design. Instead of tracking daily progress, it tracks a continuum of your movement and exercise over time and sends notifications when you're starting to dip beneath your average exercise level.

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Making Streaks Serve Your Needs

Streaks work best when combined with discipline and practice, all of which keep you moving forward on the path you believe best serves you.

​James Clear, author of the massive bestseller Atomic Habits, wrote an excellent article about how Jerry Seinfeld uses streaks in his creative work and is careful to identify the type of task that is best for this approach:

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My daily journaling habit meets my needs. It allows time for reflection and learning, and I grow in these moments.

But what works for me may not work for you.

If you're struggling to consistently adhere to your journaling practice, it's okay. I struggle, too, sometimes. Everyone does.

Remember this: A daily journaling rhythm is only meaningful if it serves you. If you want to journal once a week or once a month, and it serves you, there's a streak to celebrate there, too; there's just not one that many applications will recognize.

If you find streaks helpful, look for a tool that meets your needs. You can also record your progress somewhere, with an X on your calendar, a note on your phone, or track it with the date and a checkmark in the back of your physical journal.

Finally, If streaks aren't helpful, just ignore them. They only work if they work for you.

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Celebrate What Works for You

However you're journaling, whatever your frequency or format, be proud of yourself.

Celebrate your personal milestones, and be kind to yourself when you fail. Speak to yourself as you might to your best friend.

While you're at it, encourage your friends and family in their journey, and most importantly, keep going.

Speaking of friends and family. If you know someone who might enjoy this email, forward it to them today.

​They can sign up here if they enjoy it.​

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