How the habit system works
Habits turn the time you log into a daily game — one goal to hit, a streak to protect, and badges for the long run. Here's exactly 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 — 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. That's the entire system.
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 — ≥ 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 — 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 eight 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 actually logged it, averaged across the day, and is met while that average stays under your window — six hours by default.
Same editor, same window setting in hours (36 blk = 6h). Filling yesterday in at midnight still counts toward Track often; it will not count toward this one — which is the point. It ships without focus status, so a slow day costs you the habit, not the 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. By habits counts how many you met; by points adds up each met habit's weight toward a points target. Either way it's a small, honest goal — not a leaderboard — that gives the day a clear finish line.
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 by-habits mode a day only counts as met when all of them are met, so they steer your week automatically. In by-points mode the star is simply a pin — a marker on what matters, with no effect on the total.
No cap doesn't mean star everything. Every focus habit must be met for the day to count, so reserve the star for what's truly 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 — 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 quietly spends one; run out and 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, simply don't count — they never break a streak. Your all-time best streak is kept separately as a high score, and it counts only days you truly met, so freezes never pad it.
07 Badges worth chasing
Milestones earn badges — the occasional, satisfying 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 — 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 — alongside an arrow that shows whether you're rising, steady, or slipping versus the month before.
Consistency can't be rescued by one big day — it moves only as your met-day rate does. It's the number that answers "am I actually keeping this up?"
This is the long game in 10MB: not a level that only ever climbs, but a live read on 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 a category or tag — the 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.
That's the whole system: 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.