I’ve shared my love for repetition quite a few times on here, from two different angles, which I shared here a year ago. The two basic ideas are:
- First, there is the idea of repeating myself for my own benefit. I try to find reasons to dig back into books again (via book clubs and podcasts), revisiting my posts on here, and revisiting my highlights on Readwise.
- Second is the concern that I unnecessarily feel about writing similar posts over time. It still sometimes feels weird, but I know that repeating myself on here is almost certainly a good thing.
In an episode of the “Founders” podcast that I recently heard, the host shared a great insight that compared repetition to faith, simply saying:
“Repetition does not spoil the prayer”
If you are someone of faith (or know someone of faith), you’ll know that a well-worn Bible is seen as a good thing. The person that constantly revisits their Bible and marks it up with highlights and notes is generally a person that knows the scripture better than others.
You can extend that analogy to when someone references a book that is like “the Bible for x”, referring to a book that is incredibly important to a particular business. I always understand that to mean “an important book for the business”, which is true, but now I also see it as “a book that you should probably read, re-read, mark up, and consume”.
In all of this, repetition isn’t just acceptable, it’s required. The more you re-read and dig in, the better.
Repetition doesn’t spoil the prayer.
