Getting really good at something takes about three times longer than the internet says. Plan around the real number.
STILLNESS
WHAT THIS MEANS
Public timelines are built out of the fastest cases and the parts people chose to mention. Nobody posts the eleven months where nothing improved, so the average you absorb is assembled from exceptions. Then your real progress arrives on its own schedule and feels like failure, when it is just the normal speed nobody showed you.
Take the number in your head and multiply it by three, then plan around the bigger one. Set checkpoints at the honest distance so you can pass them instead of missing them. Being on time for a real schedule beats being late for a fake one.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
What timeline did you believe that turned out wildly optimistic?
MORE IN PATIENCE & TIMING
- Do the edges of the puzzle first. Some problems only make sense once the borders are in place.
- Be as patient with yourself learning something new as you’d be with a ten-year-old learning it.
- Pasta goes from perfect to mush in about ninety seconds. Timing isn’t just patience; it’s also knowing when to move.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.