Acknowledgements

At this point, I've broken 25K on my draft! I am mentioning this for two reasons: one, I'd like to chronicle some sort of loose timeline here, and two, I am not very good about acknowledging my progress.

So...here we are. Acknowledgement. Head nod. Okay, that's enough acknowledgement.

Seriously though, this is a good opportunity for me to think about how far I've come. In what I consider Aristotle's greatest quote, "Well begun is half done" and that's seldom felt truer than it does now.

But I am now hyper aware of my tendency to look ahead and consider the amount of work that still needs sorting. As I've said before, I am trying to 'take the train', and right now all I should be looking at is whatever is visible through the window as I pass.

That is much easier said than done, for most, I would say.

Even so, the importance of acknowledging how far we've come in any endeavour can't be overstated. I believe so many of us have been conditioned to focus on destinations and goalposts that we almost forget that it's possible to enjoy the checkpoints.

More than that, there are reasons to reflect on how far we've come, aside from just giving ourselves a little pat on the back. When I consider where I was a month ago and where I am now, there are real, calculable metrics that can be used to fight any misgivings that might pop up about how 'slow' I'm going.

To combat my own conditioning, I'll state this in writing: I'll get there when I get there. The train is moving at a good pace, and it's far more important for me to make good use of my time than to try and make the train go faster. (Which could potentially lead to a derailment.)

The completion of a work is arrived at via small consistencies, not leaps and bounds; speed should be saved for the montage.