A Simple Tool for Habit Continuity
Gamify your day and record your daily score
My rating for yesterday was 65; 20 for writing a medium article, 10 for meditating, 15 for reading a non-fiction book, 10 for journaling, and 10 for preparing for the next day. I missed 35 points for not sleeping 7 hours, not watching Netflix, and not writing fiction.
I call this system ‘my daily score.’ It’s not a perfect system, but it works most days. Before that, many times, I would set the goal of writing 10 minutes per day. The first two days would go easy, but the third day would be tough.
By the fourth day, the habit would be skipped and two weeks later completely forgotten. Only to resurface a month later when I’m wondering why it is I’m feeling like shit.
I have gone through the merry go round of goal setting several times. It’s a merry go round I’m used to. The highs of starting the task and the lows of knowing you may never achieve it. Shaking a fist at the mirror, asking myself what happened to the goal-getting me.
I had a goal last year I had to achieve. It was a fellowship exam I had to pass. I had a time table, broke it down into little chunks but after two weeks I hadn’t read a word. Failure was looming with its older brother’s shame and anxiety. What to do?
