“Repetition, repetition. That’s repetitie in Dutch.”
That line popped into my head today. I’d just leaned out the window to tell my son Dirrick—in full dad-Dutch—that if he didn’t stall his mom’s bike properly, he’d be in trouble. He was outside doing touwtjespringen (jump roping). Reps on the rope, reps in life.
My daughter Nadia is the queen of repetition. She’s watched Back to the Outback ten times, minimum. And when she finds a song—right now it’s Gaga and Bruno’s Die With a Smile—she’ll loop it five times in a row. Not because she’s bored. Because she’s learning. Kids get what adults forget: mastery is built on again.
Six Hours with DHH
That same day I had Lex Fridman’s podcast running—six hours with David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH). The guy behind Ruby on Rails, 37signals, and more hot takes than a chili cookoff. And then he dropped the line: “You don’t get strong by watching someone lift weights for 100 hours. You get strong by doing the reps.”
Exactly. Repetition isn’t passive. It’s active.
It’s the difference between knowing and doing.
Alles Door Oefening
ADO. Alles Door Oefening. Everything through practice. That’s the motto of a Dutch football club in my hometown The Hague. And it’s true far beyond the field. You don’t learn to code by watching tutorials. You don’t learn comedy by watching Netflix specials. You don’t learn to live by scrolling feeds.
You learn by doing.
Reps, drills, loops.
My Own Repeats
For me, it started with 101 Dalmatians. I’d rewind one slapstick scene so often my uncle knew exactly when to hit rewind. Later it was The Sixth Sense, not just for the twist but for the details I’d missed. Then Lucky Number Slevin, an underrated puzzle I couldn’t let go of. Around the same time, my walkman was chewing up tapes of Final Countdown and Eternal Flame—played until the cassette itself begged for mercy. These weren’t obsessions. They were imprints. Rituals. Neural grooves cut by repetition.
What Are Yours?
Repetition isn’t boring. It’s how kids learn lyrics, how coders learn craft, how athletes learn instincts, how parents remember who they are. It’s the quiet rhythm that shapes us, the loop that leaves a mark.
So again, again, again—what’s your repetitie?
What's on your mind?