I resolved to do 365 eBird checklists in 2019 to encourage me to get out of the house (even just into the backyard) as I was recovering from a depression. It helped that if I did get that many I could enter in a raffle to win a new pair of binoculars. I think I got around 330. I didn’t get in the raffle but I think it really helped my mental state.
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I’m a fan of streaks, just for the personal challenge of it…I feel if I’m not pushing myself to do something every day, I’ll forget about it, but if I make the effort to do it every day, it becomes a habit and second nature!
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I am photogrphing everything, this year I found species that was never collected after its describtion, I clearly see how photographing everything help a lot (as long as user is interested in it). My observations go to GBIF, iNat isn’t the real end of them. Users should observe what they like, not what soeone else likes. But out of science for me it didn’t uhappen if there’s no photo.
You don’t really need to photograph every specimen on the lawn, just photographing plants once going to work will give you at least 50 observations of different species. Looking at map and seeing tons of spots without observations you really don’t need to observe any specimen twice and do well.
More is always better as long it’s not a duplicate and preferably with more or less exact coordinates.
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That’s cool you did what you wanted to! I don’t remember setting strict goals, I never feel like I did my best, iNat says it’s 16k in 2020, but I feel like I was lazy the whole time and my only goal locally was to find Trichius fasciatus and I failed! As failed checking forest that I now very well and that has rare plants and insects, but wasn’t iNatting this year (so means lack of data as mostly birdwatchers visit the place) and also sea shore, ok, means last year in fact was a disaster!
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Depression is a serious condition. Everything that helps to fight it is fine. But also try something outside resolution.Resolution is just forcing unwilling yourself and forcing yourself heals only temporarily. Try doing various things - maybe something really hooks you. Remember, how Baron Munchausen pulled himself and the horse out of the mud? It was not just sheer force (if we believe him :-)).
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I was not forcing myself to do the birding. I was forcing myself out of bed and outside to walk around some (as per instructions from my psychiatrist and therapist). Then my birder brain just kind of takes over. I can’t not notice which species I’m seeing and hearing. I can’t turn it off. 
Might as well record it for science. Having the contest as a goal gave me a reason to get out there other than just knowing that it will help me recover.
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That is good! Contest helps you - then make a contest for yourself - select aim, contesters (there are plenty of them here) and go ahead! The contesters might not even know about the competition, but you will. Then make a prize for yourself for every achievement you think is worth. It might work, too.
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I am trying to overcome each of my friend’s ID counts in turn. I already passed @srall and @nathantaylor recently… And I’m coming for you, @edanko!
It’s a fun little personal challenge.
edit: apparently I also passed @thebeachcomber this week. huh
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I’m doing better now but that sounds like a fun idea 
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I know that you do not necessarily photograph moths, but maybe taking care of caterpillars in a cage could be a useful and fun way to get photographs everyday. And, as @kiwifergus said:
Also, maybe start with doing an observation every week. Once you get comfortable with that habit, then do it twice a week, and so on.
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Actually there is a whole other thread running on dandelions. Which are not what they seem.
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@kiwifergus I don’t want to just take a bunch of photos of one plant or tree, though that could be interesting for non-iNat purposes. I want a streak of ‘normal’ observations; different individuals on different days, more than one species, etc. I have a sort of pride thing that won’t let me do observations of the same plant unless a lot has changed. That feels like cheating. So, although the tree idea would be good if I didn’t care about that so much, it’s not the answer to my current problem.
@deboas For me, trying to get a streak is a way to motivate myself. It’s only stressful if I miss a day (which, of course, is why I started this thread). Trying a shorter time span sounds like a good idea though, that would give me more opportunities to “reset” and try again. @fffffffff I get that the total number of observations is what counts, but if you look at my calendar you’ll see that when I started on iNat last May I was making a lot more observations than I am now. I’m trying to get those numbers back up, and setting streak goals seems like a way to do that. I’m definitely not going to go “Oh, I got my daily observation so there’s no point making more.”
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I also don’t like posting the same, I am the only big contributor from my town, so I tried to search around in places where I’ve never been (I live here for 5 years now). It doesn’t look like big territory, but I check each house for insects and lawns (and I found lots of species from both groups), it’s surprising how one building has something that you don’t see 100 metres away!
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Yes, you are! If you need ideas, there are several identification-needy groups with guides and built-in ID links at https://sites.google.com/view/flyguide
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I’ve been busy in Euphorbiaceae ;)
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That’s cheating though
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Make two observations tomorrow! :)
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Well, this hole cannot be patched anymore… but it is rather not motivating statement ;) But making additional observation as self-punishment for a missing day and beginning anew - for me it would be motivating to continue :)
Looks fantastic! I am sure that any organism is fascinating and has a lot of diversity. But if no one is doing anything with the observations, then it only matters to me what that diversity is, and I think it would be lost on me with dandelions… I have a pretty long list of things to familiarize myself with and dandelions are pretty far down.
Even for people who specialize in such things, they don’t necessarily want 100 more observations to sort through. My previous background was in archaeology. I remember someone being astonished that we didn’t want to keep every single 1,000 year old ceramic roofing tile. But the information we can get from anything more than a representative sample is small, and the cost in time is great. Why stress out about recording all the evidence?
I only bring to iNat the ones where I want help with ID. Not motivated to streak.
But if you want a streak, you will need to bend or be creative with rules.
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