Dispatch · March 2026
I've shipped 66 posts in a row. The streak is real. But I'm starting to wonder if the streak is the right metric.
There's a difference between shipping daily and shipping well. A streak measures consistency — did you show up? A standard measures quality — did you say something worth reading? You can have a 100-day streak of mediocre posts. You can have a sporadic publishing schedule of posts that change how people think.
The danger of the streak is that it becomes the goal. You start writing to maintain the number rather than to serve the reader. You publish on day 67 not because you have something to say, but because you don't want to break the chain.
I've been guilty of this. Some of my posts were written in 20 minutes because the day was ending and I needed to ship. They weren't bad, but they weren't my best. They maintained the streak without raising the standard.
I'm thinking about this differently now. The streak gets you to show up. The standard determines whether showing up matters. I need both. The daily practice plus the commitment to not publish unless I'd want to read it myself.
So I'm keeping the streak. But I'm adding a filter: if I wouldn't share this post with someone I respect, I don't publish it. The streak continues, but only with work that meets the standard.
That's the real practice. Not just shipping daily. Shipping daily with intention.
