Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to consider doing something every single day.
Speaker 1: Habits don't have to happen daily to count, but daily
Speaker 1: can be a good option too. I've long been fascinated
Speaker 1: by the concept of streaks, doing something every single day.
Speaker 1: I've written a couple of articles about streaks, and cover
Speaker 1: this more in my book Off the Clock. My father
Speaker 1: spent his career as a professor of Old Testament and
Speaker 1: Hebrew scriptures, and to keep his language skills sharp, he's
Speaker 1: read Hebrew for half an hour every single day during
Speaker 1: our childhood's and through to now, and I mean every
Speaker 1: single day. The man started in and he is still going,
Speaker 1: so perhaps genetically oriented this way. I've long loved running,
Speaker 1: and in late two thousand sixteen, I decided to try
Speaker 1: running every single day. In the running world, doing a
Speaker 1: running streak is generally defined as running at least a
Speaker 1: mile a day every day, and so that's what I've done.
Speaker 1: I usually run around three miles, but one mile is
Speaker 1: my minimum. I began on December two thousand sixteen and
Speaker 1: have run every day since. By my calculation, that's a
Speaker 1: bit over nine days in a row. It hasn't always
Speaker 1: been easy. A few weeks ago, for instance, I woke
Speaker 1: up at three thirty a m. In Portland in order
Speaker 1: to get in my run before a long day of
Speaker 1: travel that started with a six am flight. But overall
Speaker 1: it's been relatively doable. I was already running about five
Speaker 1: days a week, so I only had to raise my
Speaker 1: running totals a little. A mile doesn't take much time
Speaker 1: at all. I can usually run in about ten minutes,
Speaker 1: and on my slowest days it's only twelve minutes. It
Speaker 1: really hard to claim I can't find twelve minutes somewhere
Speaker 1: in my life. My commitment has also led to some
Speaker 1: amazing runs. About a year ago, I flew to Vancouver.
Speaker 1: My flight was delayed and I got in quite late
Speaker 1: at night. Without my running streak, I probably would have
Speaker 1: set my alarm as close as possible to what I
Speaker 1: needed to get up to give my speech. Because of
Speaker 1: the streak, though I got up an hour earlier, the
Speaker 1: universe decided to reward me. Vancouver was so beautiful that morning.
Speaker 1: As I ran along the waterfront, past the high rises
Speaker 1: and boats and into Stanley Park, I felt like I
Speaker 1: could run forever. The fresh air and the sun glistening
Speaker 1: off the water like diamonds woke me up better than
Speaker 1: any shot of espresso ever could. Now I recognize that
Speaker 1: there are aspects of my life that make a running
Speaker 1: streak easier than it probably would be for other people.
Speaker 1: I work for myself, and so if I want to
Speaker 1: run in the mid afternoon on a work day, I can.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of kids, but I also have
Speaker 1: a spin who can take them while I run, and
Speaker 1: I have the resources to hire a sitter if he
Speaker 1: can't be there. But whether you have these things or not,
Speaker 1: it might be worth considering building a streak into your life.
Speaker 1: In fact, you may already be doing this without realizing
Speaker 1: you are. I'm willing to bet that many people listening
Speaker 1: to this podcast are on a multi decade streak of
Speaker 1: brushing their teeth daily. Life might be busy, but you
Speaker 1: still brush your teeth. You do it even though it
Speaker 1: requires you to travel with a toothbrush and buy toothpaste
Speaker 1: and other such things that aren't actually automatic if you
Speaker 1: think about it. So, since you already have one streak growing,
Speaker 1: it's really just about adding another. Maybe it's writing a
Speaker 1: short thank you note to someone daily. Maybe it's committing
Speaker 1: to ten push ups or ten setups daily. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: committing to praying daily, or writing at least two sentences
Speaker 1: in a journal seven days a week sixty five days
Speaker 1: a year. If you'd like to stick with your streak,
Speaker 1: keep the daily requirement small. Even though I run about
Speaker 1: three miles a day, I only commit to doing one
Speaker 1: that way. On the days that are truly full. I
Speaker 1: can still stick with the streak. I can run more,
Speaker 1: and I usually do, but if I'm not feeling well,
Speaker 1: or I'm in a truly terrible hotel gym, or it's
Speaker 1: three am, I can stop. Perhaps you might also want
Speaker 1: to keep a target in date in mind. We'll talk
Speaker 1: more about this in a future episode, but for some
Speaker 1: of us, we have to be careful to make sure
Speaker 1: we are still in control of the streak. You might
Speaker 1: be better off saying I'm going to meditate daily for
Speaker 1: at least three minutes for one days and then see
Speaker 1: how it goes, rather than setting a goal for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. I know my streak will end
Speaker 1: at some point, because all things do end. But the
Speaker 1: upside of doing something every single day is that I've
Speaker 1: found it changes the conversation I have with myself. Rather
Speaker 1: than ask am I going to run today? I ask
Speaker 1: when will I run today? The first question could be
Speaker 1: debated endlessly. Do I feel like running or not? I
Speaker 1: don't know, But the second question is just a matter
Speaker 1: of logistics, and when I put my mind to it,
Speaker 1: I can solve this problem for pretty much any day,
Speaker 1: or at least the last nine or so days. Have
Speaker 1: you ever tried to streak? Please let me know at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast podcast at I heart media dot com. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod That's b E
Speaker 1: the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with
Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to
Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I
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