MOWE, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – I heard a tale of a man who had always desired to write a book since he was a young child. He recalls asking himself the same question you and I would, “How?”
He questioned how writers manage to produce those countless pages. Even the thought of writing one of those enormous, thick novels might be intimidating at times.
This man eventually started writing a blog, and now he sits down every morning to write for around 15 minutes before posting a few words.
The following day, he will write a couple more. And after a few years, he had largely organized the material for his book, which gave him the “Creative License,” and he went on to write quite a number of books.
Likewise, I made it a habit to record my thoughts on my phone every day while I strolled to work in the morning and in a public bus returning home in the evening, taking advantage of the heavy Lagos traffic.
By the end of the year, I had amassed hundreds of written pieces for both my visual arts and blog posts.
No matter how big the project or objective, the key to success isn’t actually all that mysterious. One step, as they say, is all it takes to travel a thousand miles.
Hence, instead of focusing on how vast your project is, understand that it is actually just a string of individual, manageable tasks.
Complex software is created in this manner. That is how big-budget films are produced. Picasso created his paintings in just that way.
By dissecting the various components of this massive project, you make an outline while sitting down. Then you finish one of the tasks.
You take a seat, write a line, and then repeat. You settle down and paint a stunning work of art or draw on a single black page in your sketchbook. You repeat as you turn the page. That is how you fill a hundred sketchbooks and publish a dozen books, one page at a time.
When you work in these tiny bits, your mind is continually working on the project in the background. And it’s simply the process that you’re always in the middle of, rather than feeling like a mountain that’s too steep to climb. It doesn’t have to be challenging or impossible.
In fact, I want to attempt to avoid making it too challenging because doing so will limit my momentum, and I want to keep going.
So, what do you enjoy doing? What project have you been meaning to start but can never seem to get around to doing? just because it appears to be quite large.
Simply take the first action. Why not begin right now?
Thank you for reading.