Every river looks small at its source. Nobody stands at a trickle and imagines a city on its banks.

Beginnings are unimpressive by design. The start of the largest river is something you could step over, and nobody standing there would predict a city downstream, which means the small scale of a start tells you almost nothing about where it goes. This matters because most people quit at the trickle stage, having compared their beginning to somebody else’s middle.

Find the thing you are embarrassed to be bad at and let it be a trickle this week. Show up badly on purpose, four times, before you let yourself judge whether it is going anywhere.