Ten years ago today, I published my first novel.
I didn’t have an audience.
I didn’t have a plan.
I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.
What I had was a decision—
to do something hard…
and then wake up the next day and do it again.
For years, that meant 5am.
Before my family woke up. Before work. Before the day started.
Every day. No days off.
Whether I felt like it or not.
Especially when I didn’t—because that’s when it counts.
I didn’t show up because I was inspired.
I showed up because I said I would.
And over time, that adds up.
Ten years later, that decision—repeated thousands of times—turned into 11 novels, reaching over 700,000 readers.
But the numbers aren’t the point.
The point is what it took to get there.
Do it once and nothing changes.
Do it every day, and everything changes.
That applies to writing.
It applies to leadership.
It applies to anything worth doing.
Most people don’t fail because they lack talent.
They fail because they stop showing up when the work gets hard.
Because doing something hard once doesn’t change your life.
Doing it again and again does.
These days, life looks different.
Most of my writing happens on the weekends now. The books take longer. Different season.
But the commitment hasn’t changed.
If I start it, I finish it.
Always.
Ten years sounds like a long time.
It is.
It’s just built one day at a time.
Do the hard thing.
Then do it again tomorrow.