Years ago, I recorded an album of original songs in my parents’ basement in the space of about two weeks.

I played all of the instruments, engineered and mixed all of the music, and even designed the cover and insert.

There was a hard deadline: I was moving to California, and I wanted to get the thing done before then, so I did.

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Have you ever scrolled all the way back to the beginning of someone’s social media feed, YouTube channel, or blog?

Unless they have deleted their early efforts or actually began their journey elsewhere, you will likely find content that is not at the level of professionalism, refinement, and focus of their most recent work.

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The app that I use for writing, writinganalytics.co, keeps trying to give me badges for things I don’t care about.

“You’re on a streak!” it says, when I manage to write for two days in a row. Animated confetti fills the screen. I impatiently click through to get on with my life. Streaks are overrated.

Yes, habits are important. The routines that facilitate habits are vital. But doing something every single day? Worse, tracking the number of days in a row that I’ve done the thing? I don’t need that kind of pressure.

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A friend’s infant is learning to creep.

Engaging every muscle he can, he propels his body along the floor to reach a toy, encouraged by both of his parents. The strain shows on his face and can be heard in his grunts and cries.

And then, just as he is about to reach the toy, his father nudges it a few inches back.

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Every semester, the team at The Little Middle School lovingly prepares a detailed progress report for each of our students.

And every semester, I work so hard to ensure that I do not leave them until the last minute. If I do, I am absolutely sunk.

With twenty-something progress reports to perform the final edits on, they cannot be left until the last minute. You can’t leave twenty hours of work until the last minute — you’ll run clean out of minutes.

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