Breaking a Habit Streak

All, Navigating Life

by Tori Roalef
September 10, 2025

So, you've started a habit. You've kept up good progress for a week. Each day, you're marking off that you hit your daily goal. The momentum is building, and you have a good roll with this new habit.

And then, one day, several weeks later, the day gets crazy, and you forget. Or you fall sick and can't find the energy to meet you daily goal. You broke your streak.

Now what?

The Idea of the Week

Many social media platforms utilize “streaks” to keep you engaged with the platform.

For instance, Duolingo encourages you to practice your language daily by keeping a streak.

Snapchat encourages you to send pictures to your friends by keeping a streak with each person.

Musa (a period tracker app) encourages you to practice mindfulness and breathing exercises daily by keeping a streak that “feeds” your virtual dragon.

Tracking your new habit and maintaining a streak can be motivating. You want to keep going so you don’t break the streak. It’s a continuous game of “How long can I maintain this?” You build momentum that keeps you going each day.

However, in the process of learning a new habit, you are likely to ebb and flow, to stumble, to break the streak. When that streak comes to a halt, it can be demotivating to continue the new habit. You might think to yourself, “What’s the point of doing it today when I already fell off yesterday?”

Be mindful of these demotivating thoughts. Notice them, so you can challenge them. So when your mind thinks, “There’s no point doing this today since I didn’t do it yesterday,” you can challenge the thought with, “Today is a fresh start to hit my goal.”

Our minds often like to make things complex, too, which adds to the demotivation. Your mind thinks, “I didn’t do this yesterday, so now today, I have to catch up and do twice the work.” Challenge the thought! “Yes, I didn’t do this yesterday. Maybe today I need to ease myself into the habit and do a little bit less. Then we can work our way back up.”

What might happen if you let yourself believe you need to “make up” for yesterday by doing double the work today? It’s even more demotivating!

You struggle to start the thing. Then you miss another day, and now your mind convinces you that you need to catch up on another day, and then another day. You accumulate this “debt” in building a new habit until you completely fall off and no longer have the motivation or desire to pick up the habit again.

So, notice these thoughts. Notice what feelings come up. Challenge the thought, and be curious about what you’re feeling. Then, below, we will explore practical ways to maintain a new habit by adopting practical and gentle practices.

The Practice of the Week

When we break our habit streak, what can we do? In this 10-minute article, Psychology Today shares 7 Strategies for Resuming a Good Habit After Breaking a Habit Streak.

But what if habit streaks aren’t your thing?

Do you struggle to keep up a daily streak? How do you feel when you break a streak? If it’s overwhelming or frustrating, then maybe you don’t need to set a daily goal.

Try setting a non-daily goal.

For instance, I aim to creatively write 2 days a week. Or, I aim to work outside of my office at least 3 times a month.

Another strategy is to find an accountability partner. Tag a friend, neighbor, coworker, or someone who can briefly check in on your progress.

For instance, they could send a simple “Hey, did you meet your goal today?” over text. Or, we both have a goal to walk daily. Let’s go on a walk together.

Remember, starting is usually the hard part. Try setting a timer for 2 minutes and get started. Alternatively, adjust your daily goal accordingly.

For instance, I usually write three pages in the morning, but for today, I’ll just write one page. Or, I usually meditate for 30 minutes, but for today, I’ll meditate for 5 minutes.

Lower the bar.

When setting your goal for a habit, lower the bar. Don’t think about what you should be able to do, or what you could do if you were in your peak performance. What is the minimum amount of work you can do towards your new habit? Then make that your goal.

If you can only do that bare minimum, you’ve reached your goal! If you surpass that minimum, congrats! Reward your bonus performance, so you build positive reinforcement for engaging in your new habit.

What strategies do you use to build a new habit? Comment below and let us know!