No zero day is a good rule. In my experience, there has to be a limit in time and effort for this to work. I wrote 1000 words every single day for about 4 months before falling behind, and now I only have "write something everyday" without a word constraint. Much easier! It's also harder if you try to cumulate too many things: languages, sport, meditation, cooking, writing... It can get overwhelming!
I think actively reviewing custom sentences is a great starting point, which is why the only streak I keep is my custom anki deck! 😊
Absolutely true about the overwhelming part. There are also things you literally can't do a "no zero days on", like going to the gym (because you need rest days). But "writing something everyday" works well IMO, and it's exactly what Jerry Seineld professed too :).
I used to have an over 400-day streak with Anki and one day I missed it and lost motivation to do it consistently again for over half a year. While I like the idea of "no zero days," maybe more high-strung individuals like me can do minor adjustments when counting a streak. For instance, instead of aiming for a perfect streak, focus on maintaining consistent progress over the long term — even if it's just FIVE minutes of study a day.
Recognizing that progress is not always linear, and there will be ups and downs along the way, is also crucial with long-term studying. Set realistic expectations! Everyone's journey is unique, and what works for one person may not work for another. 💛
I can totally relate to the "all or none" mentality --> maintain a streak for ages, break it, never get back to it. We probably all should be kinder to ourselves.
I was *just* reading about Seinfeld's "mark the day, don't break the chain" thing yesterday in Deep Work. I don't ever recall hearing about that before, and then Shea linked to this post in her update and I'm seeing it again, the very next day! Seems it's a message I'm meant to be hearing, right about now!
Baader-meinhoff, I know --- I just find it typically happens to me with, I don't know, less poignant things... like lime green cars or some obscure song I've never heard, ha!
I once heard of someone who made it a goal to simply get to the gym every day. Even if they didn't do anything at all with the weights or whatever, they'd count it as a victory because getting to the gym was the hardest part. And it totally worked, because of course you're not going to just go into the gym and stand there doing nothing. At the very least you'll get down on the floor and stretch, and if you stretch then you'll probably roll out, and if you do that then you might as well do a plank while you're down there.
I like the idea of no zero days but like others have mentioned, it's really easy to lose motivation when you miss a day. In terms of language learning, I haven't missed a single day in over a year. I don't really consider that a big deal as I'm not keeping a streak. Also, with now working in one of my TLs, and doing something in one of my TLs every day, it's really difficult to not be in contact with my TLs. For me at least I think creating an environment where completing your goal is almost a given makes it much easier.
I think some goals/habits are easier than others to "no zero days".
At least with writing fiction, I think the "no zero days" approach is the only one that I can take. Otherwise, I'll just go for weeks without writing a single word.
And by having a rather low threshold you're almost always guaranteed more than a page a day (or, in my case, more than 250 words of fiction written every day).
I’ll preface this by saying that I’m aware Duolingo is more of a game than a language learning app, but nonetheless I am proud of my 391-day streak. I started with Portuguese and that’s still the primary language I’m studying, although I’m also learning Spanish, Italian, and German. I’m already fluent in French, which helps. I think using Duolingo without any prior experience in language learning would be much more difficult. (Plus when you know one Romance language, you can pick up others practically for “free” in terms of effort!)
So every day I hop on Duolingo for anywhere from a minute to a half-hour.
I am reading Balzac’s *La Comédie Humaine* in French (which consists of a hundred-odd novels; I have a Kindle book that collects all of them. I’m able to look up words without interrupting my reading, which is awesome).
On days where I have more time, I watch YouTube videos. There’s a hilarious Brazilian comedy show called Porta dos Fundos. I watch it with English captions first, then watch it again with Portuguese captions.
I do need to read more in Portuguese. I was reading “O Alquimista” by Paulo Coelho both in Portuguese and English. I’m about halfway through.
I so want to pick up another Romance language after Spanish! Took a few semesters of French in uni, but it never stuck, so I'll probably go with Italian some day. Love the culture, love the food.
No zero day is a good rule. In my experience, there has to be a limit in time and effort for this to work. I wrote 1000 words every single day for about 4 months before falling behind, and now I only have "write something everyday" without a word constraint. Much easier! It's also harder if you try to cumulate too many things: languages, sport, meditation, cooking, writing... It can get overwhelming!
I think actively reviewing custom sentences is a great starting point, which is why the only streak I keep is my custom anki deck! 😊
Absolutely true about the overwhelming part. There are also things you literally can't do a "no zero days on", like going to the gym (because you need rest days). But "writing something everyday" works well IMO, and it's exactly what Jerry Seineld professed too :).
I used to have an over 400-day streak with Anki and one day I missed it and lost motivation to do it consistently again for over half a year. While I like the idea of "no zero days," maybe more high-strung individuals like me can do minor adjustments when counting a streak. For instance, instead of aiming for a perfect streak, focus on maintaining consistent progress over the long term — even if it's just FIVE minutes of study a day.
Recognizing that progress is not always linear, and there will be ups and downs along the way, is also crucial with long-term studying. Set realistic expectations! Everyone's journey is unique, and what works for one person may not work for another. 💛
I can totally relate to the "all or none" mentality --> maintain a streak for ages, break it, never get back to it. We probably all should be kinder to ourselves.
I was *just* reading about Seinfeld's "mark the day, don't break the chain" thing yesterday in Deep Work. I don't ever recall hearing about that before, and then Shea linked to this post in her update and I'm seeing it again, the very next day! Seems it's a message I'm meant to be hearing, right about now!
haha, there's a name for this phenomenon I think :) or you could interpret it as a sign from the universe
Baader-meinhoff, I know --- I just find it typically happens to me with, I don't know, less poignant things... like lime green cars or some obscure song I've never heard, ha!
I once heard of someone who made it a goal to simply get to the gym every day. Even if they didn't do anything at all with the weights or whatever, they'd count it as a victory because getting to the gym was the hardest part. And it totally worked, because of course you're not going to just go into the gym and stand there doing nothing. At the very least you'll get down on the floor and stretch, and if you stretch then you'll probably roll out, and if you do that then you might as well do a plank while you're down there.
I like the idea of no zero days but like others have mentioned, it's really easy to lose motivation when you miss a day. In terms of language learning, I haven't missed a single day in over a year. I don't really consider that a big deal as I'm not keeping a streak. Also, with now working in one of my TLs, and doing something in one of my TLs every day, it's really difficult to not be in contact with my TLs. For me at least I think creating an environment where completing your goal is almost a given makes it much easier.
I think some goals/habits are easier than others to "no zero days".
At least with writing fiction, I think the "no zero days" approach is the only one that I can take. Otherwise, I'll just go for weeks without writing a single word.
I agree! I can see how it would also work for wanting to read more by reading at least a page a day or so.
And by having a rather low threshold you're almost always guaranteed more than a page a day (or, in my case, more than 250 words of fiction written every day).
I’ll preface this by saying that I’m aware Duolingo is more of a game than a language learning app, but nonetheless I am proud of my 391-day streak. I started with Portuguese and that’s still the primary language I’m studying, although I’m also learning Spanish, Italian, and German. I’m already fluent in French, which helps. I think using Duolingo without any prior experience in language learning would be much more difficult. (Plus when you know one Romance language, you can pick up others practically for “free” in terms of effort!)
So every day I hop on Duolingo for anywhere from a minute to a half-hour.
I am reading Balzac’s *La Comédie Humaine* in French (which consists of a hundred-odd novels; I have a Kindle book that collects all of them. I’m able to look up words without interrupting my reading, which is awesome).
On days where I have more time, I watch YouTube videos. There’s a hilarious Brazilian comedy show called Porta dos Fundos. I watch it with English captions first, then watch it again with Portuguese captions.
I do need to read more in Portuguese. I was reading “O Alquimista” by Paulo Coelho both in Portuguese and English. I’m about halfway through.
I so want to pick up another Romance language after Spanish! Took a few semesters of French in uni, but it never stuck, so I'll probably go with Italian some day. Love the culture, love the food.