Nobody learns to cook from one perfect meal. You learn from fifty mediocre ones and paying attention.

Competence comes from volume plus attention, and the volume part is unavoidably ordinary. Fifty adequate meals, each one noticed, teach more than any single triumph, because each gives you a small correction while the stakes are low. The ones that taught the most were rarely worth photographing.

Cook often rather than impressively, and after each attempt name one thing you would change. Say it out loud or write it on the recipe. That noticing is what turns repetition into skill.