The 365-Day Streak: A Retrospective

Today I hit a milestone that only 13 other people have hit before: a 365-day streak on JetPunk. I'd like to thank this quiz for helping me reach that milestone, and I couldn't be happier with keeping my streak alive for a year through many days where I very nearly forgot. However, to give you a better idea of how this all happened, I think we ought to take a rewind. A little rewind back into time...

When streaks were first introduced to JetPunk on September 27th of last year, I have to admit: I didn't even notice at all until I received a DM from Luni asking me what my streak on the site was at. I respond fairly quickly, and find out that I have a 58-day streak. At the time, I was two months out of a memorable trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands that was filled with highlights and some lower moments. I say this only because it definitely hurt my streak from having started off even higher than it already did, but I was still surprised to have found the feature introduced.

Four days later, I DM Anna, asking her what she thinks about the new streaks feature. She didn't like it for reasons that I won't describe here, but I agreed with her sentiment and decided to turn the streak feature off. For the next couple of months, I would generally have the streak counter turned off: checking and enabling it every few days to see what the number was at, but never keeping it on for a considerable amount of time or really more than a few minutes. Despite this, I didn't hesitate to ask Stewart how high my streak ranked, or when I reached important milestones. Somewhere in between then, I turned it on and decided it was worth caring more about, as at that point, I'd already been grinding JetPunk on a daily basis since late 2022.

Now, in order to distract from the story a little bit, I, like many other JetPunkers, love the Year in Review blogs that Stewart makes (who doesn't?). Me being the competitive person that I am, I realize that I want to be on those blogs for having achieved something during the year. I could never get onto the top new quizmakers or quiztakers section. Nor was I part of the explosion in the popularity of the word searches in 2022.

However, if there's one thing that I absolutely am consistent in doing, regardless of quantity or difficulty, it's taking quizzes. And yet the irony of all this is that as time went on, this was a marginal motivator. While the goal of making the top 10 in streaks by the end of the year is still something that keeps me going, it is not the end endeavor, as I know it banks on the forgetfulness and failure of others who are more consistently dedicated to quiztaking than I am. Around this time, I start to care more about each little milestone: first it was 100 days, then 125, then 150, and so on and so forth.

I then come to realize that I can reach a 365-day streak, and that it would be a reachable end goal. While I'd nearly forget occasionally while trying to maintain this streak, my habits of opening JetPunk to check notifications or to grind as a break from some annoying schoolwork curbed that from ever breaking it by my own forgetfulness.

For another sidetrack: initially, at the start of 2024, I set some unrealistic quiztaking goals for myself. Looking back, while they were achievable, they probably weren't feasible given how much my quiztaking activity fluctuates. However, I had quite the incredible ending to this year in that regard.

You see, it had been my goal to try and get the highest English level in JetPunk's Discord server among Honorable Members. And while I don't have that right now, I'm bordering incredibly close to it, and the past 3 days have involved everything coming full circle:

7/29/2024: I reach level 85 in English.
7/30/2024: I reach total level 97, which is my lucky number (as it's the sum of all the letters in my name).
7/31/2024: I hit a 365-day streak.

Now, keep in mind, this didn't go as I originally intended it. I didn't even come close to my original quiztaking goals, nor did I initially realize until around a month ago that I'd be ending July with a yearlong streak. But, it was met with amazing congratulations and praise from my friends in the Discord server, even drawing a "madlad" comment from one of my closest ones.

Like in my life, many things have not worked out as I originally intended, but ended up working out in the end - and that's exactly what happened here.

I've learned to grind quizzes differently as of recent - I'll write down all the answers on a piece of paper and memorize acronyms to make the process easier. I continue to grind through series, lower my English average percentage, and find out new pieces of information. For instance, I recently learned just how much QM loves to add in obscure cultural references on quizzes that are moreso of general interest. But that's besides the point.

The main thing here is, we're all capable of committing ourselves to something or achieving more than we personally realize. And I don't say this in the sense of "you can do anything if you work hard enough." Rather, I mean this in the sense that you don't necessarily realize what your brain and discipline are capable of doing until you push both further. Now, to be fair, I don't think anyone wants to casually memorize Turkish provinces or MLB HoFers as I have unless they're interested or grind in a similar sense as I do. However, in doing that, you're able to learn more about how you learn, but that's a blog for another time (not like the cliché, it's coming eventually).

Now, as for myself, I couldn't be prouder. Usually, with streaks, I forget on some days and give up (as I did with what I believe was a 30-day Wordle streak a few days ago.) But that isn't what happened here - I channeled the joy I get out of taking quizzes on the site I love, my inner competitiveness, and my commitment to it into doing something that I've never done before.

Well, now that we've reached this point, who would I like to thank? Well, I'd like to thank all of you who've accompanied me on this journey as my streak has increased over time. I'm truly grateful for the love and respect that I've been shown and given as I've celebrated multiple checkpoints in this journey, and for Stewart in putting up with my DMs asking where my leaderboard spot was.

Remember, JetPunk doesn't have a rulebook other than the honors system, not cheating, using your own creativity, and utilizing the powers of your own mind to the fullest potential. And I've found that these very gifts of this site, through every day logged onto and every quiz grinded, they age like a very fine wine.