It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.

Improvement is mostly unglamorous. The part that changes anything is the stretch where the work is dull or hard and nobody is watching, and the courage it takes is the plain kind: continuing. Wanting better things costs nothing, which is why wanting is so common and arriving is not. That does not mean effort always pays, and some difficulty is simply endured rather than rewarded.

Pick the one thing you have been circling and give it an hour you would rather spend elsewhere. Do it again tomorrow, before you feel ready.