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Whilst at the gym tonight, I continued listening to Atomic Habits on audiobook. This is a book I am going to have to listen to again and break down into parts in order to apply it to factors in my life, but the first pass listen is fine to do without a lot of intense focus. I am able to pick out bits that are interesting and mull them over, seeing where they lead me in my own reflections. The thing that stood out to me tonight was the idea of streaks, and something the writer said about *not wanting to break the chain.*

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/tarazkp/246b2vETGZEMvLoUrrWBu36A7HBUrAP9jyF2p2FdPudkPrQtDCtKNr8L3uxGUtj9ob5Lb.png)

> This resonated.

I think we have probably all been in some kind of situation where we have a streak, where we are *on a roll* and regardless of what it might have been, we don't want to have our streak broken. It might be going three times a week to the gym, not having a sick day from work, or going without an alcoholic drink. The longer the streak runs, the more gravity it seems to have. 

It might be driven by some kind of obsessive compulsive bias of some sort, where we like to maintain our world view, especially when it comes to ourselves. If we feel we are "known" for a particular habit, or we identify it as part of us, we want to maintain consistency, especially if we see it as a positive trait.  

The obvious example for this applying to my own behavior, is writing on Hive itself, as I haven't missed a day since mid-2017. For context, there have probably been days in that same seven year period where I might have not brushed my teeth. Sure, maybe only one or two for whatever reason that might be, but I was still writing. Does that mean writing is more important than brushing my teeth? 

> Perhaps.

However, it could also be that the cost to my "ego" for not brushing my teeth on one day (I don't actually remember this happening), is less than missing a day, because the value of the streak chain is higher for the writing, because there is *far more* effort that has gone into it. Brushing my teeth is habitual to the point that there is no thought to it, it is just another chore on the list. But writing is altogether different in my opinion, as it is a lot of work, but not a chore, and the feedback is seen daily, even multiple times a day. 

> Other people are involved.

It doesn't really matter if the importance of the streak is real or imagined, I will look to protect it nonetheless. At the very least, it allows me to maintain a position as probably the only one on this chain with a streak like this, with no automated or even scheduled posts to maintain it. It is all daily musings, inspired my my daily life. It does make me wonder though,

> How will I feel when the streak breaks?

All streaks inevitably end, and I have previously predicted that this one will end with some kind of boring reason, like the electricity getting cut, or some work event that leaves me with no time to write. And I don't know if that would be better or worse than having a good reason. Maybe after writing through all kinds of quite extreme personal events and situations, it is more comically ironic that it would be something lame.

> What would my next post be after the break?

You might have recognized that I didn't say "the day after the break", as I think that once the streak is gone, I might end up taking more than one day. It is hard to say. What I do *feel* at the moment though, is I would be somewhat disappointed, but perhaps also somewhat relieved. As said, this isn't a chore to do and I wouldn't skip a day on purpose, but if it happens, then there is no streak left to maintain. And, the current streak is so incredibly long, that I don't think I would be able to do it again. But even if I did do it again, 

>*it wouldn't be the same.*

What is your longest intentional streak?

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]




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