09/24/2026
It's tempting to treat progress like a single breakthrough moment. In reality, it's built through small, repeated actions, most of them unremarkable on their own.
The habit is the outcome, not the other way around.
It's like picking up a new skill outside of work. For example, when I first started making homemade sourdough bread, I felt clumsy and slow. I had to look at my recipes and instructions constantly. I measured and re-measured my ingredients to make sure I got it "right." I second-guessed whether my dough was fermented enough or not.
With all that flapping around, it would have been easy to assume I just wasn't cut out for it. I wondered if just buying store-bought bread would be easier instead of making my own.
But staying curious, learning from others, and experimenting over the weeks gave me confidence. I also realized it wasn't about the outcome - a delicious slice of toasted homemade sourdough. It was the process of kneading the dough, the joy creating something from a bit of flour and water, and seeing the happy faces of delights from family and friends I've been sharing my sourdough creations with since that was the real win of this new endeavour.
In short - few weeks of showing up consistently changed everything, not because of one good session, but because of the accumulation of all of them.
Plus, there's no such thing as a "fail" when it comes to sourdough. It always manages to taste delicious!
