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Why You Should Keep a Streak

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Streaks are keeping a daily habit or touchpoint of communication alive for a substantial amount of time.

A streak creates bite-sized objectives rather than an indefinite to-do.

If a streak is broken, we can gather information and use it to understand how to move forward.

When you were born probably affects what you think of when you read the word "streak." I am not referring to running naked across a football field or new highlights in your hair. Streaks today are more aligned with keeping a daily habit or touchpoint of communication alive for a substantial amount of time. Which, yes, I guess this supports the millennial definition of winning streaks or fitness goals.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha have rekindled the term and moved it beyond Snapstreaks. For those of you who don't know what this means (I, too, was recently educated), it is using the social media app Snapchat and snapping, or sending, a photo to a friend every day without fail. But what interests me isn't Snapchat. It's what happens psychologically when we start keeping track of our own consistency and create goals that give us structure. I am intrigued and impressed with how my younger clients have expanded on this trend and are now using the term “streak” to motivate themselves in ways that support their well-being.

A Streak Gives Your Brain Evidence That You Can Show Up for Yourself

Keeping a streak, and the consistency and reps that this involves, gives your brain evidence that you can keep showing up for yourself. It's not about confirming your self-worth. It's about supporting the fact that you have already subscribed to that truth and want to continue to strengthen it. Anxious thought patterns thrive on fear-based thinking that is focused on futuristic what-ifs, or on rehashing and ruminating about the past. The brain is either trying to fill the gaps and........

© Psychology Today