The Bricklaying Approach
How to build an empire, day by day
You don’t build a cathedral by looking at the plans. Or by seeing an entire building in your mind’s eye.
You build it by laying bricks, one at a time.
This might sound like a blatant cliché straight from self-help books, if not for the fact that this truth has finally hit me hard only recently. Of course, that was something I knew intellectually, but somehow it failed to install as my main mindset and operating mode.
This happens with a lot of life advice we might hear – or even might finally come up with ourselves. We know things intellectually, but if it fails to become ingrained in our subconscious operation, in our habits and in our hearts, knowing all those things will come to nothing. This is exactly what happens to me quite often. My head is full of things I know would be good for me if I did them – and I want to do them. But since I am a freelancer and I am my own boss, I can rely only on myself to install them in my operating system.
This is one of the many aspects where the freelancer’s life is so much more difficult than an employee’s life. We need to rely on the inner game so much more.
I am great at visioning – less so at execution. Not that I don’t love the execution – I do, that’s why I want to create all this empire thing. But developing visions is just something that comes naturally to me. So I’m constantly developing new strategies, new plans, have wonderful grand ideas that express my wild ambitious vision.
It gets worse when it comes to implementing it all. Not because I’m lazy, but because each step towards those goals seems so small, it feels so insignificant, and my instinct is to ignore those little things in search of the Really Big Step That Will Move the Needle. Because I want to do the things that are the most effective, most impactful, that really move the needle.
And here comes the Grand Realization of mine.
It has just occurred to me that it’s been actually three months since I decided to write my first Hugoverse novel. I assumed an ambitious plan (I’m nothing if not an overly ambitious plan-maker) of writing it within one month (stupid, right?), which meant writing 1,500 words a day. Which is crazy, considering I write 1,500 words of short story instalments weekly, and moreover, I didn’t want to give up doing it. But I’ve said to myself I would discipline myself, take on a routine, and it will work somehow.
Well, it didn’t. Three months have passed, I got a writer’s block, and wrote 1,500 words at the most. No book. Nothing.
Then it hit me. If I took on a much less ambitious target, say 500 words daily, which is a very manageable amount, and doable every day even with all other ambitious (ekhm!) commitments, I would have had the novel written by now.
But of course, I had to assume a big goal. Which overwhelmed so much that in the end I did nothing.
The same happens with all the other things I need to do for my creative empire. There’s so much to do, and everything sometimes feels so big (a novel! A web series script! An acting demo reel! A big network of industry contacts!) that I often freeze and don’t really know where to start and how to start.
So today, I’ve said to myself: now you need just one small brick. 500 words. You can do that. 500 words of whatever.
And of course, without any stress, I wrote those 500 words. Of course, I chose to start with a very easy scene, but at least, it got me in the groove.
So, from now on – one small brick. One small step. But done everyday.
Empires, like cathedrals, are built of a big number of small things.
From now on, whenever I get overwhelmed by the grandeur of my vision and the impossibility of my mission, I will be telling myself:
Just one brick. Any brick. Anywhere.
And then I’ll go, take the brick, take some mortar, and lay it on the wall.
If you enjoy my creative work and you’d like to express your appreciation, please consider buying me a virtual coffee at BuyCoffee.to – it’s a Polish equivalent of BuyMeACoffee, equally legit and easy to use. This would make it so much easier for me to keep going with my creative work. Thank you!
More adventures await…
Amazon: I have published my Hugoverse urban fantasy short story, “Theodora’s Necklace”, currently paywalled, as an ebook! It’s available to buy here.
Instagram: A visual diary of my artist’s journey and some lighter stuff.
Urban fantasy: Love the fantasy genre? Come over to HugoVerse, my other publication, where you will be thrown in the world of adventure full of magical intrigue, history and international espionage.
Mad Quest Studios: My most ambitious project yet - I'm developing several genre fiction series with my DOP friend for YouTube, including paranormal thriller, urban fantasy, martial arts, and action adventure series. Follow our journey FOR FREE on Patreon.