And that's okay. I know this cycle well. But anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.
It's hilarious to me that you should say that at this particular time.
Quick story:
I've been getting physio to help with an issue with my lower back and another one with my hamstring. The thing is, it turns out that with the proper stretches and exercises, the problems will correct themselves. All I need to do is diligently perform the exercises the therapist assigns and I'll be fit as a fiddle in no time, relatively speaking compared to, say, rehabbing a serious injury like an ACL tear. The problem is that the number of days where I don't manage to do the exercises even once is greater than the days that I actually do even one set. Which I know sounds pathetic, but if you understand mental illness at all, and in my particular case combine depression and poorly managed ADHD at the same time, I trust that you may get how difficult it might be maintain any new regimen at all strictly. Anyway, when I tried to explain this to the therapist, because I was not going to lie about how consistently failing to perform them, she made some excuses about why it would be no problem and then explained it should actually be fine if I do them even once per day. Mind you, it is true that despite the infrequency with which I was getting them done, I still showed steady improvement throughout. Newb gains, no doubt, but I'm actually pretty disgusted with myself for not sticking to the schedule despite all the foregoing. I'm working on a plan to do something about that.
So, here's where it gets hilarious (to me, YMMV LOL). I saw the therapist today, same story, I've not been doing the exercises very often and that grosses me out but I'm still showing progress for whatever reason. She says to me, well, some of these, even if you get them in every couple of days, it should be fine, just make sure to do the stretches, i.e. the quickest and easiest things to fit in any time of day, and to me it felt just as in your post, like she was negotiating for the maximum and expecting the minimum LOL. Serendipity right there, man.