What physics looks like when you stop optimizing everything in São Paulo

My current rule is simple: if it takes less than 4 minutes to prepare, I am much more likely to keep doing it.

This is probably obvious to veterans here, but it clicked for me only recently. chemistry got easier when I stopped treating every attempt like a final exam.

Part of me wanted the fancy version with all the tools. The better version was boring: one notebook, one reminder, and a willingness to be clumsy with the tiny repair for a while.

> Tiny progress is still progress.

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