Failure is more valuable than people think
Yesterday, I failed. I feel bad about it. Since I started the 100-day writing challenge, I haven't missed a single day of writing on this blog, and I was really proud of that. Today, I woke up hungover, and yet the worst part wasn’t that—it was remembering that I didn’t write yesterday. I had broken the streak.
Does that mean I’ve failed the challenge? No.
Did I fail myself? Maybe… but, not really.
Productivity culture has made us believe that doing something every day is the secret (and often the only way) to getting good at it. But how sustainable is it to do something every single day without fail? Let me rephrase that: Is it even sustainable? The truth is, it’s not.
Trying to practice a skill every day is a fantasy, nothing more. Sure, it might be possible for a few weeks, several months, or maybe even years. But no—it will never be possible to do something every day until death catches up with us. And just to be clear, I’m talking specifically about skill development here. I know brushing your teeth or drinking water are daily activities, but those serve a basic function of hygiene and survival, respectively.
I think habit streaks have become an ego-driven thing in modern culture. A way for productivity influencers and cozy bloggers—who make a living out of posting what's in my bag videos every month—to fool their followers with false narratives.
Some people even track whether they drank water that day. How do you get to a point where you need to track that? It’s a basic necessity, you fuck. Drink water or you’ll die. You’re an adult. In what world is drinking water every day an accomplishment? Fuck.
Besides, breaking a streak can be incredibly demotivating—to the point where, in extreme cases, giving up starts to sound like the better option. I think we should normalize the fact that when we’re learning something new or developing a habit, breaking a streak is normal because WE NEED TO REST.
We need time to reflect on what we’ve learned. We even need time to just stare into the void—to not think, just exist. Those periods of rest and downtime are even more important to our growth than the streak itself.
Breaking a streak is not the same as failing. In fact, I think it proves that we’re trying. We shouldn't be so afraid of failing as we are, anyway. Failing is necessary, and we should normalize it as a testament to our effort and abilities.
So no, I didn’t fail. I’m still in this.
In fact, I didn’t break any streak at all. I’ve been writing every day, and I’ll keep doing it. Hell, maybe I won’t write tomorrow—but I’ll still be on track.
What even are streaks, if not just a concept we made up for… who knows what?
🏆 It’s impossible to achieve anything without failing along the way. Thanks for reading!