Here’s where I see scholars get demoralized in a painfully predictable way. They set a goal like “1,000 words a day,” but they only count words that feel polished enough to belong in the manuscript. That is, the day you spend experimenting with two different chapter openings, realizing your framing needs to change, or writing exploratory drafts that will not survive that day is considered a waste of time. But that day was book-making, and if your measurement system refuses to count it, you will keep feeling behind no matter how hard you work.