How far would you go to keep on winning? | Mind Matters

That question came to me as I faced the first surgery of my life, on a toe whose cartilage had worn out.

Would I take sick leave for the first time in decades or would I take annual leave to preserve my streak of no sick leave?

What would you do?

My most frequent thoughts about streaks have come when I play tennis and go several games without missing a shot.

Almost as soon as I realise that I have been perfect so far, I miss a shot.

I do not believe in jinxes, so I reject the jinx explanation for my failures to maintain tennis perfection. I have a psychological explanation: Thinking of the streak adds psychological pressure.

Thoughts of maintaining perfection can lead to chokes.

So I may have choked. Or maybe my luck ran out.

It is hard to be perfect for long.

Thinking of those streaks led me to recognise many other streaks that I had never recognised.

I have gone decades without an ER visit and without an overnight stay in a hospital.

I have gone decades without having a gun pointed at me. I have not been slugged in decades.

I have gone years without doing a pull-down with a weight machine in a gym. That lift always causes me neck pain. I give myself credit for that streak.

I have not had an auto accident in years.

I have not fallen off my bicycle in many years.

It has been a long time since I twisted an ankle. And I have weak ankles.

I have never fallen off a roof. I am of the age, sex, and personality where the odds are against me on maintaining this streak.

I have a lot of streaks going that I never thought about!

How about you?

Which streaks do you feel happiest about?

Let's return to the topic of my toe surgery.

I decided to take sick leave, with the idea that I would then feel free later to take sick leave if I develop a contagious disease or something serious.

Trying to preserve a streak can lead to bad outcomes.

Streaks can be fun to think about and motivating, but I don't want one to motivate me too much.

I will drive carefully to try to keep the accident-free streak going, but I know that stuff happens.

John Malouff is an Associate Professor at the School of Psychology, University of New England.