Nobody tells you how much of getting what you want is forms, emails and waiting on other people.

A surprising share of any ambition turns out to be administration. Behind the interesting version of a goal sit deadlines, paperwork, people who have not replied, and processes running on their own schedule, and none of that appears in how anybody describes getting somewhere. It is real work even though it feels like it should not count.

List the dull steps between you and one thing you want, then do the smallest one today. Send the email while it is still only a sentence. Expect more of your week to go on chasing than on doing.