If we accumulate enough small wins, they might just add up to an outstanding life that will be the envy of everyone

I got a virtual high-five and I liked it. And then hated myself for it. Damn. The three-year battle of wills with the language-learning app was over. They won. But did they? That’s three years of sometimes intermittent — 143-day streak and counting — Italian practice. That’s three years that adds up to some conversational competence and, apparently, an OK accent. That’s the reward, right? Except that I had spent so long resisting the apps culture of bite-sized big-ups and ego boosts that caving in to a friend’s high-five felt like failure. The battle was over, and the app had won the war.