How the habit system works
Habits turn the time you log into a daily game, with one goal to hit, a streak to protect, and badges for the long run. Here's how it works.
01 A habit watches your blocks
Once you're painting your day in blocks, the next step is to make some of them count. A habit is a small rule that watches one category or tag and checks, every day, whether you hit the target you set. Meet the target and the day is met, and you earn that habit's points.
Nothing here needs extra logging. Habits read the blocks you're already painting, so a habit like "two hours of deep focus" is met automatically the moment your Focus blocks add up. You set the goal once; the score takes care of itself.
Paint your blocks → habits check them against your goals → enough met habits close your day → met days build a streak and earn badges.
02 Two kinds: build & avoid
Every habit is measured in ten-minute blocks, and comes in one of two shapes depending on whether you want more of something or less.
Build habits want you at or above a target, so ≥ 12 blk means "two hours or more of Focus." Avoid habits flip it: ≤ 6 blk means "stay under an hour of Social." Because the win is restraint, avoid habits count clean days instead of a streak, one for every day you stayed under budget.
03 The two habits you start with
Every account begins with two seeded habits, and neither watches a single category. Track often watches how much of your day you logged at all, so the first thing the system rewards is showing up.
The target is set in hours (the default of 8 hours a day is 48 blk), and you can raise, lower, pause, or re-enable it any time from its editor. It earns points, builds a streak, and feeds every card exactly like a habit you made yourself.
Track early covers the other half. It measures the gap between the time a block represents and the time you logged it, averaged across the day. It's met while that average stays under your window, which is 6 hours by default.
Same editor, same window setting in hours (36 blk = 6h). Filling yesterday in at midnight still counts toward Track often, but it won't count toward this one. It ships without focus status, so a slow day costs you this habit without breaking your streak.
04 One daily goal to close
The heart of the system is a once-a-day loop. You set a single daily goal, and the Today ring fills as you meet habits. Reach the goal and the day is met. That's your finish line.
Pick the mode that matches how you think. Focus is the simple mode: it counts how many habits you met, and every habit you starred must be among them. Points is the advanced mode: it adds up each met habit's weight toward a points target. Either way it's a small goal that gives the day a clear finish line. You can switch any time, and choose when a change applies: from today (every day before it keeps the score it had), from a date you pick, or on every past day.
05 Focus priorities come first
Not every habit matters equally. Star the ones that are non-negotiable as your focus priorities, and they become required every day: your day isn't met until every focus habit is. There's no limit on how many you star; the more you add, the higher the bar to close a day.
Focus habits gate your day: in Focus mode a day only counts as met when all of them are met, so they steer your week automatically. Points mode has no required habits. The star does nothing there, so it's hidden, and your stars come back when you switch to Focus.
No cap doesn't mean star everything. Every focus habit must be met for the day to count, so save the star for what's non-negotiable and leave the rest as steady background habits.
06 Day streaks & the freeze bank
Every day you meet your goal extends your day streak. It's one chain across your whole routine, not one per habit. Miss a day and you don't have to lose it: a freeze is spent automatically to cover the gap, and the streak carries on.
You earn one freeze every six met days, and they bank up with no limit. A missed day spends one automatically, and if you run out the streak resets. Coasting on a freeze won't earn new ones. Only met days do.
Days before you started, or while every habit is paused, don't count, so they never break a streak. Your all-time best streak is kept separately as a high score, and it counts only days you met, so freezes never pad it.
07 Badges worth chasing
Milestones earn badges, an occasional payoff for consistency. Four come from your day streak; two more reward a perfect week and your very first earned freeze. Once earned, they're yours to keep.
Streak badges arrive at 7, 30, 100, and 365 days. They're tracked off your longest streak, so a freeze-covered day still counts toward them. A perfect week is any Monday-to-Sunday you met all seven days with no freezes, and first freeze lands the moment you bank one.
08 Consistency over time
The daily goal and your streak are about today. For the bigger picture, every habit tracks a rolling 30-day consistency (the share of tracked days you met it), with an arrow that shows whether you're rising, steady, or slipping versus the month before.
One big day can't rescue consistency. It moves only as your met-day rate does, and it tells you whether you're keeping this up.
This is the long game in 10MB. Consistency shows whether your habits are sticking, habit by habit and across your whole day. Keep the rate up and the streak takes care of itself.
09 Making your own
Open the Habits page and hit New habit. Describe what you want in plain language ("protect two hours of deep focus," "walk every day," "keep evening scrolling under an hour") and 10MB drafts the habit for you: category link, target, build-or-avoid, and a sensible point value. Adjust anything, star it if it's a priority, and it starts scoring from the next day you log.
Pick what to watch
Link the habit to the category or tag whose blocks it will measure, or leave it whole-day, like the two seeded habits.
Set the target and direction
Choose a number of blocks and whether you want to stay at or above it (build) or at or under it (avoid).
Decide if it's a priority
Star it to make it a focus habit (required every day), or leave it as a steady background habit.
Set goals you believe in, let your blocks score them, and watch your streak and consistency build. The full app guide covers painting your day and everything else 10MB can do.