I broke my publishing streak yesterday. 165 days.

I started a post and just couldn’t get it completed in time, from complete exhaustion. I started the post on my phone at night, and in minutes my phone fell on my face and I passed out.

I decided to write this post as a quick reflection.

Streaks are a simple but effective mechanics to build habits. They serve as a reminder to continue habits, and are in itself a reward one a habitual behaviour is completed. A broken streak is strangely painful, which can serves as a one time cue in the atomic habits framework.

James Clear also has a really good article about the power of streaks in the context of comedy writing.