The light in the world comes principally from two sources,—the sun, and the student’s lamp.

Most of what makes the world navigable was worked out by someone sitting alone with a difficult text, late, without an audience. That kind of light spreads slowly and unglamorously, and it is easy to overlook beside anything that happens in public. The hours you spend learning something properly belong in the same category. They look like nothing at the time and change what you can see afterwards.

Reserve a stretch this week for something you are studying rather than performing. No output, no audience, just the work of understanding. Judge it by what you can see in six months, not by how it feels on the night.