How many, once lauded in song, are given over to the forgotten; and how many who sung their praises are clean gone long ago!

Not only do the celebrated disappear, so do the people whose opinion made them celebrated. The audience you are performing for is as temporary as you are, which casts a strange light on how much of your behaviour is arranged around their opinion. You are adjusting yourself for a jury that will not be sitting long.

Pick one thing you are doing largely for how it will be regarded, and ask what you would do if the regard were unavailable. That answer is worth more of your week. Approval is pleasant while it lasts and a poor thing to organise a life around.