_Spoiler: Only one of them involves actual effort

Between burnout, client work, and staring blankly at VS Code for hours — keeping your GitHub streak alive can feel like a second unpaid job.

I used to obsess over my GitHub activity like it was a Tamagotchi that needed daily care. Miss a day? Anxiety. Miss two? Shame spiral.

But after years of freelance chaos and working in private repos no one can see, I realized something:

I was doing real work... and still looking inactive.

That green grid didn’t reflect my grind.

So here are 3 ways I’ve learned to keep my GitHub looking alive — without coding every single day like a productivity martyr.

✅ 1. Schedule Deep Work, Not Daily Commits

One of the most common mistakes devs make is trying to force daily pushes just to fill the grid.

Instead:

  • Work in blocks. Real coding happens in sprints, not drips.
  • When you forget to push, you can sometimes use: 
bash
  git commit --amend --no-edit && git push -f
(Use responsibly. Don’t rewrite public commit history like a maniac.)

Set reminders in your calendar — not for commits — but for focused “shipping” days. It’s a marathon, not a misery sprint.

⚙️ 2. Automate It (Yes, I Did This)
One night, after completely zoning out for 3 days straight and breaking a 30-day streak, I snapped.
So I built what I now call The Green Square Ritual.

It’s a Bash script that:

Wakes up my Mac (even while I sleep)

Picks a random file in a repo

Updates it with nonsense or a timestamp

Commits it with a dumb message

Pushes to GitHub automatically

Result?
I look active 100% of the time — even if I’m doomscrolling Reddit or neck-deep in private client work.

Wanna see how it works? I wrote up the whole story here →

Or if you're ready to try it yourself:
🛒 Grab the Green Square Ritual on Gumroad → ([Only $10 to look productive forever](https://fleurdevie.gumroad.com/l/almgkl))

🧠 3. Use Private Repos Strategically + Take Break Weeks
GitHub doesn’t count private contributions on your public profile unless you tweak your settings. Make sure this is on:

⚙️ Profile → Settings → Contributions → "Include private contributions"

Even then, the green grid is a trash metric for actual output.

I started taking intentional breaks every few weeks — no code, no guilt. Just real life.
The Ritual covers my grid, and I return refreshed instead of resentful.

💬 Final Thought
We code for a living. Not for a streak.
But if a tiny bash script can give you back your evenings — I say automate the hell out of it.

👉 Got your own trick for gaming the grid?
Or want my dumbest commit messages?
Drop a comment.

🛒 [Grab the Green Square Ritual](https://fleurdevie.gumroad.com/l/almgkl) — it’s $10 and takes less than 5 minutes to set up.

Stay lazy, stay legendary. 💚