Go Streaking: It’s a Powerful Way to Create a Body of Work

In January, I committed to a weekly newsletter/blog.

It’s now September.

My typical routine is to start noodling on an idea on Monday, sit down at my computer on Tuesday morning to get a first draft done, and then use Wednesday or Thursday to fine-tune the newsletter before I hit “Send to Recipients”.

It’s been fun to build consistency around this little goal—this commitment—of mine.

The consistency has helped with the momentum.

I haven’t wanted to break my streak.

For me, there’s a sense of pride that has come with the consistency—that comes with the building of a streak.

Streaks are Powerful

When I was in graduate school, I used to set yearly goals for the number of days that I wanted to work out in a year.

It was pretty simple: In January, I would create a Word document that had a numbered list indicating the total number of days that I was allowed to miss a workout throughout the year. I would then tape it up on the side of my bookshelf so that it was the first thing I would see in the morning when I woke up—a constant reminder of what I was striving to achieve.

I kept a pen on the top of the bookshelf and when I missed a workout, I would write down the date that I missed.

This was a huge driver.

There were days when I would be exhausted…

…there were days when all sorts of things would go wrong throughout the day…

…there were days when I didn’t feel good…

…and there were days when I simply hated everything about working out.

But, striving for consistency—striving for building a streak—helped me to overcome all sorts of barriers that reared their heads.

I remember getting so much satisfaction when I would see a three month or more gap between missed workouts.

I had created a body of work.

All week I’ve been thinking about this newsletter/blog.

On Wednesday morning at 4:30am, we started our trek to Minnesota with a 9 hour drive from Naples to Atlanta.

Thursday morning, we rinsed and repeated with a 12 hour drive from Atlanta to Chicago.

Friday morning was more of the same with a 6 hour drive from Chicago to St. Paul capped off with a full afternoon of unloading all of our stuff from a POD.

Barrier after barrier after barrier.

But, streaks are powerful.

Streaks create a body of work.

As I write this I’ve sent out 32 newsletters. Although it’s Saturday morning after an utterly exhausting week, I was committed to a weekly newsletter. The alarm went off at 4:30am and it was time to get writing.

When I hit “Send to Recipients”, I’ll have hit #33.

For me, this provides a huge sense of satisfaction.

And, therein lies the message:

Life satisfaction lives within your goals.

Life satisfaction lives within the commitment to something hard.

Life satisfaction stems from embracing the struggle of working through barriers.

Life satisfaction develops as you incrementally build your own body of work.

Life satisfaction comes from streaking.

So, ask yourself: what streak am I building or what streak do I want to build?

And then…

…go streaking.