Last year, I started a project called “The Year of Writing” to write and publish an ebook a month.
I did that for 3 months.
And then I stopped.
If I look within, I have never failed at anything I absolutely love. And writing books is exactly that.
Then what happened this time?
Intent.
It turns out, the reason why you do something is far bigger than the fact that you are doing it.
And my intent was simple: Have so many samples of books written, that anytime any client came to me to have their book ghostwritten, I would have a plethora of options.
Of course, over a period of 3 months, I realised that even though I could work hard at writing a book, the best projects get done with ease. You are making that effort, but it is truly effortless. Which only happens when you are at ease. Especially creative projects. A great book could be written in a month or 45 days. However, being a single person team and not wanting to delegate the marketing and promotion, it took a toll on me.
Thus, I decided to go slow.
But with that decision, also came a perspective:
Rajkumar Hirani, Aditya Chopra, or any of the directors that produce hits—they haven’t done so by directing one movie a year. Good work takes longer than that. It is more important to share a sample of 3 great books than 5 mediocre books. Well, not essentially. But the point I am trying to make is 3 great books is also a great checkpoint, so is 5, so is 1. A person in progress is a good person to want to work with
If you have picked a work that requires longer time, do not bring your habits of work that required instant gratification.
Do less, but better.
—James Clear