The last few weeks have been chaotic. I was out of the country for half of the month and then was dealing with a cold and jet lag after the trip. But I’m back now! It feels good to be at my desk with a cup of coffee again.

If I’m being honest, I’ve been struggling to get a post out. At first, I was genuinely giving myself a few days to reset. But there came a point where I noticed I was simply avoiding the task altogether. And the thing with creative work is that each day you skip is not a linear setback but more akin to exponential pressure building up.

Not only that, but I’ve been noticing even more self-created pressure than usual because this is post #40. I know it’s a human tendency, but I tend to over index on these round numbers. “Ahh I should have x thing figured out by now.” “Woah 40 posts in, where’s my all encompassing manifesto?”

I know none of it is logical and it’s a thought pattern I’m trying to break out of, but for right now it’s still there. The funny part is this isn’t even a milestone round number like 50 or 100. It’s just 40. Yet there’s this immense fear and expectation in my head that I need to produce a viral banger.

So this post is a middle finger to that toxic thought cycle. This write up is intentionally short and simple. And it’s a bunch of words that I’m posting to remind myself that it’s far more important to overcome any friction and move on to post #41 than it is to get post #40 perfect.

For anyone who has been feeling resistance with doing things they enjoy because of this pressure to “get it right” by a certain number, this is a friendly reminder to just push through and strip the expectations out of these magical numbers. It may be post #42 or #420 that produces the moment of clarity you’ve been longing for, but you’ll never know until you get there. So keep going!

And this applies to all expectations we’re used to but are just arbitrary: the end of the month or quarter, yearly reflections, weekly checklists, and so on. Just move past whatever random cadence you’re giving too much importance to as fast as you can so your brain can do its thing.

Heck, I’m already feeling back in the rhythm just writing this post. Glad to get it out and be back in the flow.

Remember, craft is an infinite game.