Why streaks work
A streak turns an invisible habit into something you can see. Each day adds a square, and after a few weeks the chain itself becomes motivating: you don't want to break it. A GitHub-style graph adds a second layer, showing not just whether you focused but how much, so good weeks look different from barely-there ones.
Set a small daily minimum
The streak should count on bad days too. Set the minimum low, like 25 focused minutes, one Pomodoro, and treat everything above it as a bonus. A minimum you can hit when you're tired keeps the chain going; a big target turns every hard day into a failure.
Plan for missed days
Life happens: illness, travel, a family emergency. A streak with no forgiveness ends the first time that happens, and many people quit the habit entirely when it does. Build in a safety net.
- Freezes: a few skip days a month that keep the streak intact.
- Repair: make up a missed day by doing extra the next day.
- The two-day rule: never miss two days in a row.
Make the streak hard to ignore
Put the streak where you'll see it constantly. A streak inside an app you rarely open doesn't work. On every new tab, it reminds you whether today's square is filled yet, at exactly the moment you're deciding what to do next.
Celebrate milestones, not perfection
7 days, 30 days, 100 hours: milestones give you something to aim for. Share them if it helps, or just notice them. And if the streak breaks, start the next one the same day; your total focused hours didn't disappear.