The Worst and Best Parts of Streaks

My daily post streak on Cultish Creative is running around 2,870+ days now.

The YouTube and related streaks, while less, haven’t missed a beat since I started them either (even if they are at a slower cadence).

So you can imagine my “Uh, guys” moment when it almost all ground to a halt this week.

When the files for the YouTube video worked until they suddenly didn’t.

“Corruption.”

And not even the good Netflix crime-drama kind.

Just, everything is working until, “error - your files are corrupt.”

If the video can’t go up, the posts can’t go up, and if the posts and video can’t go up - as scheduled, ahem - something needs to take their place.

Plus, with multiple people helping me make parts of my stuff now (Jack Forehand, my partner and personal content therapist), and others distributing it (you’ve seen the feed on Epsilon Theory, right?) - I found myself watching a slow-motion train wreck in front of my eyes.

This is the worst part of having a streak.

You’re doing so good and then it wants to go and break on you.

Corruption is so unfair when it cuts against you.

But the best part about having a streak is - you can keep it alive.

You might have to push through or “ugh” and “argh” a little.

But if the streak matters, you keep it going.

You find a way.

So when late on Monday night, the podcast planned for Tuesday wasn’t working at all, we tried really hard to keep it alive.

Well into Wednesday even, because it was always one “let’s just try THIS” away.

Until it wasn’t

And then I did something else I was meaning to do anyway.

Bobby Keller had told me, that if I shot a promo video for Cultish Creative, he’d show it on the big drive in screen at Horror Fest, and - what do I know about making a video for the drive-in screen?

I know nothing about making videos for larger than life screens.

But I do know how to keep a streak alive.

Streaks can work for you or work against you.

They can force you to learn the difference between commitment and rigidity - to realize the point isn’t perfection, but being present, even when it gets all messy.

Early on Wednesday morning I cancelled my previously scheduled Cultish Creative posts for a YouTube video that would not be released yet, and I wrote/recorded a video for Bobby.

From scratch.

In the way I know how. Even if it’s not the best by whatever standard is in my imagination for stuff on massive screens.

The same methods that keep my streak alive - they’re good enough to keep it alive, and that’s a fact.

I used some clips from old episodes, made some jokes for the crowd who would see it, and even turned it into a longer version for a YouTube post.

Plus, I had regular work to do too. Client meetings, calls, things that pay actual bills and aren’t just what I want to do in my non-work hours. But, in the gaps, by 2:30, it was live.

And even if my daily email came out a little later than normal, it went out too.

Here’s to streaks that work for you.

Streaks are struggles. And, struggles that aren’t all bad? They turn into strengths.

It’s been a tough week. But Jack and my ET friends got their stuff. Bobby got his commercial and a little extra in a dedicated video post. And, most importantly, my streak - that I love, care about, and feel really good about keeping alive - lives on.

You hear that universe? It’s going to take a lot more for me to break this one…

ps. hey corruption, nice try. For the record, I give you two-thumbs down and 0 out of infinite stars. Streaks are two-thumbs up and 5/5.

Pss. The video I made for Bobby Keller is right here (including the commercial, which is embedded towards the end):