What To Do When the Streak Is Over

So, you’ve been killing it, congratulations! You have gotten up to go to the gym at 5 a.m. faithfully for the past month. You read the YouVersion Bible plan consistently for the last 42 days. Friend, you are on a roll! And you are feeling yourself! Your SnapChat streak is at 138 🔥 and you are on fire!! You have been to church every weekend this year (as of this writing there has only been one weekend, so you got this). Yeeeessss! When you are on a roll everything feels awesome. But what happens when the streak is over? When you miss a day from reading the Bible plan on YouVersion and you are reminded that your streak is over?

Have you ever felt that blow to your soul when you realize you already ‘sucked’ at meeting your New Year’s resolution and there hasn’t even been ten days in the new year. I know I am not the only one who has felt the overwhelming feeling of defeat when the streak is over. So what does one do, quit or get back up and give it their best over and over and over again?

At any given point in time someone is dealing with their streak being over. You see in it sports all the time. The undefeated team gets killed by an unranked team. Whoa, talk about a sucker punch. It is inevitable that you will miss a day of doing something you planned to do at some point in time. It is inevitable that one day your streak will be broken. You may miss doing your morning devotion because your kid or fur-baby is sick. Eating healthy has been your thing and then you go out for lunch and can’t fathom eating another salad. It happens. But how we choose to respond and what we do next is what makes the world of difference. I have responded the wrong way and I have responded the better way, but the beautiful thing is that we get to choose!

The Wrong Response

When a one time negative response throws you off course completely, Houston we have a problem!  We sometimes put more energy into maintaining a streak for the sheer sake of being able to claim we are on a streak than we do in the actual accomplishment of the goal or task. For example, I typically read from the YouVersion Bible app every morning. I have been doing that for many years. I love to work through their reading plans and devotionals. Last year, they started this thing where they would show you your streak. This metric would be displayed as soon as you opened the app. I was on a roll for a couple of months and then I missed a day. When I finally got around to opening the app to read my devotional a few days later, I was so upset because my streak was over! I was so disappointed that I didn’t even want to log in anymore. I lost track of my true motivation (to read God’s word) momentarily because I had become so fixated on seeing the number of days go up on the app. Jeeez.

Look at my streak, a whopping five days!

When we become fixated on a number and lose track of the motivation behind the metric, our efforts are often misaligned. Our society is so obsessed with stats that it becomes normal to focus on the final number (so we can brag) and ignore the process. We are told to have S.M.A.R.T. goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals. We shoot to attain these said goals, lose 65 pounds, save 15%, pray 2 hours a day…..and there is nothing wrong with the goal in and of itself. But focusing solely on the S.M.A.R.T part of the goal can often rob you of the joy of simply enjoying the process and make you feel like a failure when you mess up. But a number does not define you, a streak does not define you. The world may look at what you present on the outside, but God does not define you by your accomplishments. He looks at the motivation of your heart. Messed up streak ≠ Failure because Grace > Perfection! Give yourself a little grace and get back up!

The Better Response

I am an avid Dave Ramsey fan and I believe that following the principles he teaches can lead to financial success. My family was able to get out of $126K of debt following the Financial Peace University teachings. It works and I know it with every fiber of my being. To pay off the huge sum of debt we had, it took so much diligence and sacrifice that we often wanted to give up. There were times we messed up on our budget and we wanted to throw in the towel. But we learned that messing up was sometimes part of the process and it was okay. Unfortunately, on this journey we have met so many people who started and when it got hard or when they messed up they just quit. The better response is to enjoy the process and refocus your efforts and give yourself a little grace. You can refocus your efforts by remembering what you value more, the motivation that got you started in the first place or the attaining of the goal/metric. When my husband and I got discouraged in our attempts to get out of debt, the remaining balance didn’t matter, what mattered was why we wanted to get out of debt.  Focusing on the why re-energized us and increased our motivation and determination.

Allow Room for Grace

With the New Year, many people set goals or make resolutions. I believe 2018 is going to be my best year yet and I hope to achieve all the goals I set for myself and my business. But I won’t be able to do it on my own. I will need the help that comes from my Father in heaven above. What I have learned is that when I do mess up my streak (uuggghhhh) as long as I don’t focus on that and I keep in mind the motivation behind the goal and enjoy the process, It. Will. Happen. When you choose to just do your best and let God handle the rest, eventually you will look up one day and say, “Wow, look what God has done!” His grace is greater than any attempt at perfection.

I challenge you to shift your focus from the goal and stay aligned with the motivation behind the goal. Focus on the why instead of the how. Show yourself some grace, receive grace. Do your best and let God do the rest! And when you do mess up your streak, choose the better choice. Get back up and do your best and let God handle the rest. Then, hit Repeat again!  The best is yet to come!

What streaks have you been known to track?

What can you do to make sure you choose the ‘better response’  when you feel like just quitting?