Today I Learned · by Lotte Jansen · 2026-09-30

The practical joy of doing the playlist badly at first

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

My current rule is simple: if it takes less than 7 minutes to prepare, I am much more likely to keep doing it.

23 sparks · 7 comments

Comments

Elif Yılmaz · 9 likes

My version of this was messier, but the conclusion was similar. This pairs weirdly well with jollof rice.

Paolo Garcia · 6 likes

The context helps. Without it I would have assumed the opposite. I used to overcomplicate this constantly.

Léa Bernard · 2 likes

Amazing how much difference one small change can make. That is where the boring checklist helps.

Imogen Clarke · 0 likes

Respectfully, I see it the other way.

Amelia Hughes · 0 likes

Small caveat: context changes the answer a lot.

Daniel Kiptoo · 2 likes

I love this. It feels practical without pretending life is neat. The weekend version is even more interesting.

Amelia Hughes · 1 likes

I wish more posts had this much context. I keep a note about culture for exactly this reason.