Streaks are valuable. And no, I’m not talking about the streaks on Snapchat; I’m talking about streaks of the various activities we do, such as exercising every day or writing every day. Having done something every day provides structure to the surprises life gives us.
I didn’t want to get out of bed to run yesterday morning. I thought: I’ve been running every day this month so I can have at least one day off, right?
Wrong.
Running every day gives me the structure I need in my life to tackle unpredictability. I don’t run just because I want to be healthier. I also run because I need an activity that gets my mind active as soon as I get out of bed.
The same goes for writing. I don’t write every day just so I can improve my writing. I also write because I need to declutter my mind from unnecessary thoughts.
The chancellor of my university told me he wakes up around 6 every morning to deadlift. My jaw dropped when I heard this. He said the only days he took off were when his doctor said he needed to recover from his surgery.
Jerry Seinfeld had a calendar on his wall where he would write an X for each day he finished writing his daily jokes. His goal was to have every day filled with an X, and he didn’t want to break the chain once he started. I actually have something similar to my wall, too.
The repeated process of my activities carries me throughout the day. No matter how bad my day can get, I know that, by the time I’m sleeping, I kept my streak alive. That allows me to keep going.
TAKEAWAY: Find something you love doing that benefits you in the long run every day, and don’t break the chain. Keep the streak going.
Here’s my inspiration for the day. If you were curious, I ended up running yesterday.