A hundred times I have sat down and began to type and a hundred times that typing has resulted in an issue of the newsletter that you are reading now. Big milestones can sometimes lead to reminiscence (or even worse: a clip show), but while I’ve been pretty happy with more than a few of these missives, I think we all had our fill of nostalgia last week, what with New Year’s and all. So instead of reliving the last two years of weekly thought leadership (cough), I’m going to go all the way back to the wise words of Alan Moss, my elementary school band teacher:
”Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”
While this handy aphorism did not propel me to international superstardom playing the trumpet, it has definitely informed the production of this newsletter. In it’s simplest form, Periodically is a gimmick come to life. Baking a rigid publishing schedule into the branding of the property gave me just enough momentum to get to the point where my ego and fear of failure took over to keep quality up and the schedule fulfilled. But the muscle memory created by two years of weekly keyboard time isn’t enough to justify Periodically’s continued existence, if those hours are not in pursuit of some version of perfection.
The form of this newsletter has grown and meandered and morphed over these hundred issues. The twitter account has had its ups and downs. There’s syndication on Medium now. My maniacal obsession with getting the dang thing published on Tuesday (Central Time) has subsided somewhat. But the writing will continue unabated, removing each vestigial feature until nothing remains, save its pure, perfect essence. Thanks for coming along thus far. Here’s to the next hundred.
Periodically yours,
Bob Sherron
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