753 days in... and it’s still not automatic
From late-night streak stress to celebrating getting out of bed, let's talk about the reality of habits
Depending on where you look, you’ll see claims that habits are built anywhere from 66 to 254 days. And after that, they become as mindless and automatic as breathing, they say.
Mmmkay.
I’m currently holding a 753-day streak on Duolingo, and absolutely nothing about it is automatic. Some nights, I’m in bed with my phone in my hand, having put my lesson off until the very last minute (again), proclaiming to my husband I’m just going to quit the whole thing, then end up hurrying through it just to keep my streak. Which requires me to check in with myself and ask, “Am I actually getting something positive out of this, or is it just creating unnecessary pressure and stress for no real reason?”
The verdict is still out.
I’ve also got a little over a year-long streak going on the Finch app, which thankfully doesn’t trigger the same stress and pressure as Duolingo. It is just simple and cute enough to keep me engaged. I don’t pay too much attention to the specific habit or goal streaks, just the days I’ve checked in and sent my lil birb on an adventure. Though you really can get as in-depth as you’d like to track your habits and goals. I don’t overload my goals with a ton of difficult tasks. One of which is literally just “get out of bed” because I get to start my day checking off a box, telling myself, “way to go, you! You got up, and that’s worth celebrating.” It’s a low-pressure and low-consequences win.
I use it every day, and it’s still not automatic. Sometimes I’m getting ready for bed and realize I never sent my birb out, and I have to check in and remember all of the tasks I completed that day, then off she goes adventuring while I sleep.
It helps keep me headed in the right direction, but none of it is automatic, and I can’t imagine it ever will be.
Do you have any current streaks going? Do you find them mindless or automatic?
Stay kind. Stay curious. <3
Nikki
I don’t know about you, but very few of my healthy habits are mindless.
I wrote about how we all require a different approach to building positive habits in: The myth of the “mindless” habit
Hey Look! A cool plant!
The Ghost Pipe
(Monotropa uniflora)
Why it’s cool: This plant is completely white because it has no chlorophyll. It doesn’t need the sun to make food. The Ghost Pipe is a parasite to mycorrhizal fungi in forest soils, meaning that it draws nutrients from those fungi, while those fungi get what they need from the trees in the forest in a pretty rad symbiotic relationship. It thrives in the deepest, darkest parts of the forest where other plants wouldn’t survive.
The Lesson: There is more than one way to thrive. Just because you aren’t doing it the way everyone else seems to be doing it doesn’t mean you aren’t growing beautifully in your own way.
Some things I found interesting and thought you might too
“Eventually, it becomes you,” says the inventors of a new ‘living’ knee replacement, composed of a biodegradable 3D printed scaffold packed with stem-cell-derived bone and cartilage.
Research says that adults who have no close friends aren’t necessarily antisocial or unlikable, but “compulsively self-reliant.”
New Zealand’s critically endangered kākāpō, known as the world’s fattest parrot, has achieved the most successful breeding season on record.
By Department of Conservation - Kakapo “Trevor” feeding on ripe poroporo fruit
The shorter way to do many things is to only do one thing at a time. - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart