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Explain Like I'm Five · by Liam Eriksson · 2026-09-18

The useful joy of doing the routine badly at first with an awkward constraint

My current rule is simple: if it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, I am much more likely to keep doing it.

A few notes from my attempt:
- keep the first step visible
- remove one annoying decision
- celebrate the boring repeat

The detail that surprised me was how much the library changed the outcome. Same plan, different setting, completely different energy.

> Tiny progress is still progress.

That line sounds cheesy, but it got me through the part where explainers stopped feeling new.

11 sparks · 2 comments

Comments

Ananya Rao · 1 likes

The kindness in this post is lovely. That is the kind of detail beginners miss.

Rohan Mehta · 1 likes

I would push back gently on the doing part.