I heard a great piece of advice recently, purportedly from a former Olympian swimmer to one of his students after a particularly challenging training session.
When chasing a dream, or doing anything hard, you should feel good one third of the time, OK another third of the time, and bad for the final third of the time.
If you’re always feeling good, you’re probably not pushing yourself enough. If you’re feeling bad all the time, you may need more rest, be at risk of burnout, or the goal might be set too high.
Not all days should be good days. The bad ones help us know we’re on the right path. But above all, the ratio between them is important.