Persistence

Every January gym attendance spikes by nearly 150%, yet by mid-February about 90% of those new faces have vanished.1 We crave transformation, but sticking around for the unglamorous middle is where real change happens. Showing up regularly with “good enough” effort often outperforms sporadic bursts of perfectionism. I admire people who are consistent, dependable, and reliable. And I think you’ll find, if you can simply show up consistently, you’re more likely to achieve mastery slowly than someone who tries something a few times, gets frustrated, and gives up.2 But mastery isn’t always the goal, and that’s perfectly fine. Sometimes, being just okay at something and enjoying the process is rewarding in itself.

I have a deep appreciation for mastery. It takes an extraordinary amount of time and effort to become truly masterful at something. It doesn’t matter so much what that thing is, whether it’s a sport, a musical instrument, a language–spoken, written, or programming computers. The path to mastery is the same: it demands time, practice, sweat, tears, trials, tribulations, and a whole lot of hard work.