How do I build a practice that survives a bad week?

You want a practice that survives a bad week. Then design it for the bad week, not the good one. Almost everyone does the reverse. They build for the best version of their life and are surprised when an ordinary bad week destroys it. Practice is steady, repeated effort over a long time, without gaps. The word to notice is gaps. First, set the floor absurdly low. Not twenty minutes. Two. The floor is not the practice; it is what keeps the practice alive when everything else is gone. Two minutes on the worst day beats twenty on the best and nothing for a fortnight. Second, attach it to something that already happens without your effort. After you put the kettle on. Before you open the laptop. Willpower is not a foundation; existing structure is. Third, decide in advance what you do when you miss. Not whether you will miss — you will. The plan is: return the next day, at the floor, without commentary. Missing one day is nothing. Missing one day and then judging yourself is what ends practices. Fourth, do not raise the floor during a good month. That is how the good month quietly sets a standard the bad month cannot meet. What is your two-minute version?