Streaks are the key to success

At the start of 2026, I set myself a list of goals.

Various things I wanted to do, which included writing more, walking more, reading more, a whole lot “mores.”

Yet when it got to January, I realised there wasn’t some magical switch that got flipped at the turn of the new year which suddenly made me a hardcore, ultra-disciplined robot.

By 5th January, I was still doing the same stuff as I was in 2025.

Things needed to change.

Enter the Streaks Tracker

Inspired by Dominic Hart on YouTube, I got myself a notebook and made a graph.

The graph included the days of the month, and a list of things I needed to do each day, each week, and then each month.

For example, in 2026 I want to read more books, so I wrote down “read 50 pages” in the daily column. When I completed the task, I could fill the square in with a nice green pen. But when I don’t do something, the scary red pen comes out.

The entire goal then is to keep the green streak going for each of the habits.

It Really Works

By shifting focus away from big goals, and instead turning your attention to relatively easy things you need to do each day, progression becomes so much simpler.

In a sense, the overarching goal leaves your mind, and you’re focused only on the small things each day.

You’re not thinking “I have to read X books this year,” you’re thinking “I need to read X pages today.”

I’ve stuck to the 50 pages per day for 74 days, resulting in 3450 pages read, and nine finished books.

When you hit the smaller goals, the bigger ones naturally follow.

And this habit tracking process can be applied to literally anything you want to achieve.