Chain Modes

Not every habit deserves the same amount of pressure. A habit like flossing arguably needs a hard daily rule to actually stick; a habit like strength training genuinely doesn't need to happen every single day to count as consistent. Chain modes exist because forcing every habit through one rigid system either breaks habits that need slack or lets habits that need discipline slide. Strict mode is the purest version of the chain method: every day counts, no automatic exceptions, built for habits where daily repetition is the entire point. Balanced mode keeps the daily cadence but adds a small weekly allowance of automatic skips, so one missed day — the kind that happens to everyone — doesn't erase a chain that took months to build. Flexible mode drops the daily requirement altogether and tracks a weekly target instead, like "three times a week," which fits habits that were never meant to be daily in the first place. You pick the mode per habit when you create it, and you can change it later as your relationship with that habit changes. The point isn't to make every chain easy — it's to make the difficulty match the habit.