I lost my Italian streak by 5 minutes the other night. Never mind, it’s nothing really so started a new one.
23rd Oct. Ouch, I seem to have lost both my Italian from English Streak as well as E from I. Can’t work it out as I usually hit target while enjoying my second Weetabix!
I would offer you commiserations, but it may be more of a blessing than anything.
Allow me to explain.
I’ve come to the view that streaks can end up being an anti-motivational tool, since I’ve always believed that taking an occasional break can help with the “can’t see the forest for the trees” issue that can stem from doing any form of study purely to preserve a streak; especially streaks that run for months or years.
My normal working environment has me surrounded by 3 computers and 4 screens. 1 computer/screen is on CM, and as I work during the day I’ll complete a task, then switch over and do a cloze or 10, then return to work. I don’t regard this as multitasking because the intent is to make it as natural as breathing and needing minimal conscious thought. So with this arrangement, it’s hard for me to miss a day, right? Yet one… Thursday, I think it was, a few weeks ago, I did exactly that. I was rearranging my office and never turned on the third (CM) computer. On the Friday, I thought… “Did I do any CM yesterday?” And I looked at my streak.
Zero. I’d also missed seeing the reminder e-mail.
I think my streak was over 3 years in Italian (I don’t think it could have been less, though I’ve been playing for longer than that), and a few months, maybe a year in German. My first reaction was “Uh-oh” with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
My second was… it was like having a weight lifted off my shoulders. The streak was gone and there was nothing I could do about it… but then I realised that there is nothing I WANTED to do about it because I knew that I didn’t want to go back to playing at least a few questions on days that I really wasn’t in the mood to, just to keep the streak going.
I ended up just skipping CM entirely for a couple of weeks. I had no idea what my old streak was (since that doesn’t show in our profiles), so I couldn’t aim to beat it. Not that I want to ever do a streak that long again anyway, but having, say, “Your 10 longest streaks” plus “Your most recent streak” on our profiles might motivate some people to try to stretch themselves. Another motivator might be showing how many days since we last played, which is a number most people wouldn’t want to increase TOO high… but again that’s not available. (I could guestimate from the last time I levelled up, but I couldn’t be sure. So I THINK I was out for about 2 weeks, but it may have been longer.)
Since this all happened I’ve actually deliberately missed a day again, just to ensure that I don’t ever get hooked on the streak dopamine hit again. And I’ll be doing the same in the future.
Your mileage may of course vary, but I find the destruction of mine to be a very liberating feeling.
@LuciusVorenusX Thank you sooo much for taking the time to share your experience of streakaccia;-) Whilst my overall streak encourages discipline, I totally agree with you on the “freedom” aspect. Already I’m learning more with less haste and enjoying taking my time, not just racing through, particularly on days that need attention elsewhere.
So I’m raising my Lavazza in celebration! Mille grazie di nuovo per il tuo incoraggiamento👋!
I couldn’t agree more.
I intentionally broke my streak by doing my daily lecture after midnight.
I can still see the bump in my statistics. 
As long as clozemaster don’t offer a “joined x out of y day” counter, streaks are stress.
Sorry @Floria7! We’re always happy to reset a streak if you’d like, just email support@clozemaster.com.
To be sure, these are stats you would like to see / you think would be helpful/motivational to see, is that right?
agreed! Thank you all. Streaks were initially added due to demand and because Duolingo had them. That said they certainly have downsides like you’ve all described and there may be better stats.
“days since you last played” is interesting, something you’d ideally want to keep at 0, but there’d be nothing to “lose” if you didn’t. “total days played” could similarly be interesting, as well as a weekly or monthly streak instead of daily. Perhaps we could even make them toggleable so you could choose which stats you want to follow with the option to hide the daily streak.
I think I know what you’re getting at, but to be sure - you mean something like a rolling “you’ve played 13 of the last 30 days”?
Ciao @mike Your offer to reinstate my streaks is most kind! My overall streak is still good to go, so for the moment I’m happy with this. Should I get withdrawal symptoms I’ll email you as suggested.
Kind regards to our ClozeM team!.. Floria7
I was thinking more of something like “you’ve played 823 of 846 days since starting clozemaster”.
I’d still would like to have an incentive to practice as often and as regular as possible without the fear of loosing “everything” (= my streak) due to unusual circumstances.
Let me explain why I decided to break my streak deliberately a few weeks ago.
I had a busy day and no chance to start my daily practice. In the evening I went out with a few friends for some music and a glass of wine.
Suddenly I observed myself looking at my watch and thinking: “If I go now I can return home before midnight and save my streak.” That’s crazy. That’s unhealthy. A few days later I broke my 800+ days streak to never be in this state of mind again.
But all in all it is a minor point.
Thank you for bothering and generally for the very good job you’re doing.
Ah, the “looking at the watch” syndrome I recognise only too well! I tend to rely on upvotes from others for that extra motivation🙌 Always thoroughly appreciated.
Then let me send you a couple of 
… for the times I’ve neglected that in the past! And on credit for the future …
Futhermore, I hope we celebrate your 1111th day (you remember “Schnapszahl”?) on clozemaster no matter what the offical streak count is.
Mamma mia, today it’s free pizza e prosecco for everyone, not that I’m a streakist of course! 
