In developing a habit, we usually anchor ourselves with how many days in a row we can keep it going. Let’s say the habit is meditating.
After a good 21 days, it’s a safe bet that we’ve developed it into working order; but after that point, we might easily fall into the trap of maintaining that streak into 50 days or maybe even over 100, far enough that we begin to focus less on the practice of meditating and more on never breaking our streak.
In doing so, we veer off course and the discipline has no longer become a discipline, but an obsession rooted less in the virtue of the practice and more in the ego.
So here’s the fix. After 21 days, take a one day break. And then start up again. This ensures that your (meditation) practice never becomes about anything more than the practice itself. Of course it doesn’t have to be 21 days exactly. You can make it 30 days or 14 days. Whichever time frame you choose, you will have a far easier experience focusing on the work, without dwelling on never breaking your streak.
Ren Michael 