The key here is whether it's "contributing" or "contributing to ___." If someone's goal is, say, to ensure that every day they make at least a few lines of incr

The key here is whether it's "contributing" or "contributing to ___." If someone's goal is, say, to ensure that every day they make at least a few lines of incremental progress on their [game/book/project/set of open source projects they want to contribute to] etc., and even/especially if they publicize that goal to create some external accountability, that can be a really powerful tool - as long as it doesn't get ahead of one's well-being, etc. But having a streak just for having a streak's sake is unhealthy at best.