drip vs droplet
made w/ midjourney
Crude binary alert. Let’s say work breaks down into two categories: the drip and the droplet. Each requires its own standard and pattern. Each rides forward on a distinct obsession.
The drip is a steady output. The obsession is consistency. Showing up, doing the thing, clocking in, clocking out. There will be better and worse instances of your output as the days pile up. What matters, the way you win, is that piling up. Gradual accumulation trumps a grand arrival.
The droplet is a singular product. The obsession is precision. You refine, you polish. You may only get one shot. You’re on stage, the spotlight turns on, and you have to deliver your very best performance right then. No re-dos, no take backsies.
A couple related observations:
Often the expert droplet-makers have mastered a drip. They’ve built a system for showing up, off stage and off camera, that leads to the immaculate droplet at the end.
Often the expert drip-makers fool you into thinking they’re droplet-makers. Your experience of the thing they’ve done a thousand times and will do a thousand times more is singular and special. You feel like you’re getting a precious droplet. They are good at hiding the humble piping that they’ve built and patched over and over, piping that yields a drip for way more people than just you.
-eric
