Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to make the most of the motivation
Speaker 1: that comes from having a streak, but also to give
Speaker 1: yourself grace when you need to take a day off.
Speaker 1: Long time listeners may have heard me mention my running streak,
Speaker 1: which lasted from late until late December, which is not
Speaker 1: coincidentally when my youngest child was born. I ran at
Speaker 1: least a mile every day for more than days. Maintaining
Speaker 1: this streak helped get me running on days when it
Speaker 1: would have been easier not to, whether because of bad weather,
Speaker 1: an early flight, family commitments, or just not feeling excited
Speaker 1: about running every day, I assumed I would run, so
Speaker 1: I just asked myself when and if I ever contemplated
Speaker 1: skipping a day. Well, I had a really long streak
Speaker 1: on the line, so I ran, and of course, once
Speaker 1: I got moving, running felt great. I'm glad I did
Speaker 1: the streak, even if I elected not to restart it
Speaker 1: after my baby was a few weeks old. If you
Speaker 1: are interested in really making a habit of something, a
Speaker 1: streak might be a good idea for you too. Sometimes though,
Speaker 1: maintaining a streak every single day just asn't doable. If
Speaker 1: you are spending half an hour outside every day, your
Speaker 1: streak might be able to withstand busy weeks at work,
Speaker 1: the stomach flu snowstorms, but maybe not a flight to Australia.
Speaker 1: If you are exercising every day, an injury may bent
Speaker 1: you for a day or two. If you are reading
Speaker 1: every day, a kid emergency requiring a late night trip
Speaker 1: to the e R may mean the day passes and
Speaker 1: you haven't read. And sometimes there are days when you
Speaker 1: could theoretically maintain your streak, but life is hard enough anyway.
Speaker 1: When that happens, you don't have to abandon your streak
Speaker 1: and your momentum altogether. You can just declare a streak freeze. Yep,
Speaker 1: I am borrowing this term from the Duolingo app. Thanks
Speaker 1: to my daughters one seventy five days Spanish learning streak,
Speaker 1: I learned that Duolingo allows users to buy a streak freeze.
Speaker 1: Duo Lingo keeps track of how many consecutive days you
Speaker 1: have practiced your language skills. If you buy a streak freeze,
Speaker 1: the number of days in your streak says the same
Speaker 1: if you miss one day. Say you've reached forty five
Speaker 1: days in your streak and then you miss a day,
Speaker 1: The streak freeze will keep your tally frozen at forty
Speaker 1: five days. The mist day isn't the forty six day
Speaker 1: in your streak, but the next day you practice, you
Speaker 1: won't start back at one. I think this is brilliant
Speaker 1: both for duo lingos business model, but also for life
Speaker 1: in general. A streak freeze lets you maintain the momentum
Speaker 1: of your streak while accounting for the fact that life happens.
Speaker 1: If you decide to start a streak of doing something
Speaker 1: every day, you can decide what your rules will be
Speaker 1: for buying a streak freeze. Of course, you could buy
Speaker 1: streak freezes with money given to a random charity or
Speaker 1: put into a savings account, but I think it's more
Speaker 1: meaningful if the payment for the freeze is somehow related
Speaker 1: to the streak itself. For instance, if you have a
Speaker 1: running streak, maybe you get a one day streak freeze
Speaker 1: for doing an additional form of exercise like cycling or
Speaker 1: zoomba on a day you also ran for a reading streak.
Speaker 1: Perhaps you earn a streak freeze for each book you finish.
Speaker 1: If you have a meditation streak, you could earn a
Speaker 1: streak freeze by going for a silent solo walk, no companion,
Speaker 1: no headphones, or maybe by taking a yoga class. Whatever
Speaker 1: the nature of your streak and the price of your
Speaker 1: streak freeze. On the rare occasions when you can't literally
Speaker 1: continue your streak, the streak freeze preserves the momentum you have,
Speaker 1: so the next day you can continue your streak rather
Speaker 1: than dwelling on losing it. If you decide to buy
Speaker 1: yourself a streak freeze, I'd love to hear about the
Speaker 1: price you set. You can reach me at Laura at
Speaker 1: Laura Vanderkamp dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number four then breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast Podcast at i heeart Media dot com.
Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
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