On Great and Not-so-great Sessions

Credit goes to Dan John for this essay. Good to keep in mind the next time you lift and it goes great or not-so-great:

"...In a group of five workouts, I tend to have one great workout: the kind of session that makes me think that in just a few weeks I could be an Olympic champion and Mr. Olympia.
Then, I'll have one workout that's so awful that the mere fact I continue to exist as a somewhat-higher form of life is a miracle. Then, the other three workouts are "punch the clock" workouts: I go in, workout, and walk out. Most people experience this.
Now, in 100 workouts, there could be 20 great workouts. Of that 20, a couple will be flat-out amazing. And in 1,000 workouts, just one is worthy of an article, or bragging to your non-lifting buddies about. So, once a decade, if you're lucky, you have that workout.
Unfortunately, many people think they're under-training all the time because they don't puke every workout, the world record doesn't fall during the session, or a swarm of reporters from People magazine aren't taking your picture. Really, I never understood this idea that every workout had to be the best and finest training moment of your life.
This brings to mind two things: where else in life does something become better and better every single time? Meals? Sleep? Work? Even sex can have highs and lows. (I was going to say "ups and downs," but somehow even I can't handle that level of bad pun.) Furthermore, how can you honestly think that training improvements are that linear?
Remember this: if you start bench pressing 100 pounds, and add 10 pounds a month, you'll bench 460 in about three years and 500 hundred in a few more months, right? How many of you with just three years of training under your belt are knocking out 500-pound benches? (You know, in the gym, not just on the Internet.)

In other words, give yourself a break emotionally and physically... most of the time..."