(Quiet February morning at Alki photo by James Bratsanos)

Heres the list for the rest of today/tonight, mostly from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:

CITY COUNCIL BRIEFING MEETING: 2 pm at City Hall, the weekly meeting in which councilmembers talk about their plans for the week ahead. Heres the agenda. Watch live via Seattle Channel.

TODDLER GYM PLAYTIME: Free indoor drop-in playspace 3-5 pm at the Salvation Army Center. (9050 16th SW).

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES: Fourth day of cookie booths at various locations some starting at 4 pm. Search here for your nearest locations.

BENEFIT BAKE SALE: A local soccer club, Valencia CF Academy Boys 2010/2011, is fundraising for its upcoming trip to Spain, including scholarship costs to ensure all players can make the trip. Theyre having a bake sale during Arbor Heights Food Truck Night, 4:40-7 pm. Theyre promising key lime pie, cookies, brownies, pan dulce, more. Read more about them in our calendar listing. (10835 42nd Ave. SW)

DISCOVER SEATTLE COLLEGES: As previewed here last night, South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) and its sibling campuses are opening the doors virtual and physical this month so you can learn about what they offer. Tonight at 5:30, the first online info session focuses on health and medical programs RSVP here to get the link.

GET CRAFTY: 6-10 pm, Monday brings Crafting and Creativity Night at The Missing Piece (9456 35th SW), info here.

D&D: Open D&D starts at 6:30 pm at Meeples Games (3727 California SW), all welcome, first-time players too. $5.

MONDAY NIGHT TRIVIA! Three options tonight 7 pm at The Good Society (California/Lander); 7 and 8 pm Sporcle Pub Quiz at Three 9 Lounge (4505 39th SW); 7:30 pm with QuizFix at The Skylark (3803 Delridge Way SW)

MEDITATION IN FAUNTLEROY: Free weekly Zen sitting/meditation at the chapel at Fauntleroy UCC (9140 California SW), 7 pm-8:30 pm.

MEDITATION ON ALKI: The Alki Dharma Community invites you to Alki UCC (6115 SW Hinds) for meditation. 7 pm.

MUSIC AT THE ALLEY: Live music with The Westside Trio, 8 pm at The Alley (behind 4509 California SW), 21+, no cover.

KARAOKE: 9 pm, Monday night karaoke at Talaricos Pizzeria (4718 California SW).

Have a West Seattle/White Center event to add to our calendar and/or Holiday Guide? Please send info to westseattleblog@gmail.com thank you!

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Benefit bake sale, trivia, tunes, meditation, more on the West Seattle Monday list - West Seattle Blog

HOW STREAKS MOTIVATE BEHAVIOUR

By tapping into various psychological drivers of behaviour, streaks can motivate people in several ways.

In general, a streak adds a higher-level goal (keeping the streak alive) to a lower-level goal (completing an individual activity). Streaks also add structure to an activity, and structure can simplify thinking and decision making. The extent to which goal achievement or structure is important to you would influence your commitment to a streak.

I also found the way a streak is structured can affect the streak-holders commitment to it. For example, a streak of meditating at least 20 minutes each day may be more appealing, and lead to more commitment, than a streak of meditating at least 140 minutes each week.

While the amount of meditating is the same in both cases, a daily streak adds structure, thus simplifying decision making, and encourages the person to regularly engage in a beneficial behaviour.

Streaks can serve to gamify the underlying activity by creating rules and quantifying the outcome, and many people enjoy the challenge of a game.

Finally, I found that activities that are more relevant to ones identity are more likely to generate commitment to a streak. If someone identifies as religious, a daily streak of praying may be more appealing than a daily streak of playing Wordle because a praying streak can provide a way of demonstrating ones desired identity to others.

While streaks can compel behaviour, they do not motivate all people for all situations. They can even have the opposite effect. Some people are turned off by the prospect of a streak because theyre concerned about being obligated to it, as reflected in the comments of a former streak runner: I realised that, if I let it, the streak could become a thing that controlled my life, my travel and those around me.

As the calendar turns to a new year, many people resolve to engage in self-improving behaviours that facilitate better mental or physical health. People often begin streaks on Jan 1 or other important dates, such as holidays, birthdays or anniversaries of noteworthy events. Such temporal landmarks add meaning and structure to the streak and create a fresh start effect.

While many people make New Years resolutions, only a small percentage of people complete them. My research suggests that structuring a resolution as a streak may be the nudge that some people need to stick with it further into the new year - and maybe far beyond.

Danny Weathers is Professor of Marketing at Clemson University. This commentary first appeared on The Conversation.

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Commentary: Keeping a streak alive can be strong motivation to stick with a chosen activity - CNA