The idea of a guarantee is a myth.
When you apply for a job, you don’t know that you’ll get it.
When you start a marketing campaign, you don’t know that it’ll get traction.
When you ask for a favor, you don’t know know that someone will agree to it.
But you apply for the job, build the marketing campaign, and ask for the favor anyways.
Why?
Because in doing so, you create the best possible chance for the outcome you seek.
Stop trying to look for guarantees, you will not find them (okay, maybe your local fortune teller will have something to say about that).
If the work and change you seek to create matters enough, creating the best possible chance for it by trying is worth the effort alone.
Attached to that there's something that's not guaranteed but something we can honestly reflect on. Our enjoyment of the practice. Based on this feedback loop we are able to alter our practice in a way that we can get a better shot at enjoying the practice. Otherwise it won't last.
Re: reflecting on the practice, I'm still learning to make peace with the fact that some days I feel like what I write is total shit. But I publish it anyways because - par for the idea of practice - I believe that even bad practice days are still good for the practice overall.
I think if someone is seasoned -- like pros -- then they can definitely take practice days off better than us regular folk.
I think what makes taking days off so dangerous for regular people is that it usually doesn't just stay at one or two days. it usually becomes months and years and often just becomes never.