Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

Nothing outside human schedules hurries, and nothing outside human schedules stops either. Growth happens at a rate that looks like inactivity on any given day and is undeniable across a season. Most people fail not by going too slowly but by alternating between frantic effort and complete abandonment.

Set a pace you could hold in a bad week rather than one suited to a good one. Smaller and continuous beats large and intermittent in almost every area that compounds: fitness, savings, a language, a friendship. The question to ask about a new regime is not whether it is enough but whether it survives February.