Anybody can grind for a weekend. The real test is a boring Tuesday in week nine.

Intensity is easier than consistency because it is brief and it looks impressive. A hard weekend asks a lot of you once, which pride can cover; an unremarkable Tuesday deep into the term asks the same thing with no audience, no excitement and nothing to prove. That is where nearly everyone quietly stops. The people who get somewhere are mostly the ones still present on that Tuesday.

Plan for the flat weeks instead of the heroic ones. Keep the daily amount small enough to do while bored. Then count the Tuesdays rather than the big pushes.