Braces don’t yank teeth into place. They push a little, every day, for a year or two. That’s how most real change works.

Force applied all at once mostly breaks things. Bone moves when it is pressed gently and constantly, and the same is true of habits, of skills, of what people think of you. The pressure that works is small enough that no single day feels like much. Which is exactly why it is easy to quit halfway and call it slow.

Take whatever you want changed by next summer and shrink today’s version of it until it is almost too easy. Ten minutes, two pages, one set. Do that on the days you are tired, because those are the days the whole thing is decided on.