In response to my post on voluntary discomfort, marginalia_nu writes: 

I think expectations matter quite a lot.

For example, when practicing a practical skill, the actual practice session itself will likely suck. Not only will you see no progress, you may even feel you’re going backwards. You’ll also get mentally and physically tired and quickly kinda feel like shit, even if it’s something like penmanship.

The catch is that the progress happens between sessions when the brain is processing the new training data. If you don’t understand and expect this, it’s very easy to bounce off almost anything. If you do understand that this is the expectation, then it’s much easier to accept the discomfort and stick to it long enough to actually begin to improve.

It’s helpful to set a modest expectation, especially in the beginning. Progress isn’t always fast and tangible. Relying on the false optimism that you’ll learn quickly might get you into the first work session, though despair will set soon after. Rather, knowing that progress will be inevitable, as long as you keep showing up—though not as quickly as you might hope—might be a more useful story.

The observation that the brain processes training data when you’re not practicing also resonated with me. Sometimes, the discomfort stays with you throughout the day—for example, when I work on a new book in the morning, I feel more tense throughout the day—and that might be a reason why.

P.S., Marginalia is a really good search engine.