A while ago, I committed to posting on my blog every day. I’m now on a streak of over 55 days in a row. I don’t want to break the streak, I want to keep it alive.

I typically try to post in the morning before I get my day started, which I believe is generally a good practice – doing what you are committed to, what your priority is as soon as possible. A similar approach I’ve used in the past is completing the work the night before. The night and the morning share in common that they tend to be the times you have to yourself. Historically I have considered myself to be a night person and preferred that route, but more recently my focus has been on the morning. There’s something special about the morning and that you can build momentum and a sense of satisfaction and control that will carry through your day.

While I typically post in the morning, I’ve had a few more busy days where it’s been close and I’ve barely squeezed in the post at night. Tonight is one of those nights. Tactically it’s helpful that I have a pool of notes and journals to draw from for inspiration on what to post about, so a short window of time before bed is enough.

These days that are close calls make me contemplate the importance of the daily practice. A few things come to mind:

• The habit is already built. Missing a day, breaking the streak would give me some negative feeling that I haven’t met my commitment, but the most important thing would be to post the next day and start the streak again. That’s the realistic and sustainable way to live well. Not perfection but resilience. Letting small failures lead to learning and improvements, not quitting.
• The habit of posting daily has served me but may not always serve me. Longer form content with more depth that requires more time than daily posts maybe become my priority. There are other components in my life that are more important to me right now than my blog as well. Those truly are the priority and are more important to take care of first, for example of taking care of my precious daughter in the morning. This doesn’t mean giving up on the blog, but it means if I’m going to miss something for the day, it should be the blog before those other things. It’s important to follow through with commitments, but also re-evaluate priorities and what should come first in the day on a routine basis.

The streak may break someday, and that can be OK. Not today though.