A little lesson on putting in the work from James Clear…

A little lesson on putting in the work from James Clear:

If you're curious what it takes to write a New York Times best seller, here's a quick overview of what the process looked like for me:
November 12, 2012: Launch jamesclear.com. Start writing two articles per week. Try my best each time.
2013-2015: Continue writing each week. Build an email list of 200,000+ people over three years.
Early 2015: Leverage that audience to get introduced to book publishers and literary agents.
Mid 2015: Select an agent. Spend 3 months working with my agent and an editor to create a book proposal.
Late 2015: My agent sent the proposal to 19 publishers. 7 replied and said they wanted to meet.
October 2015: Fly to New York. Meet with the publishers. We were lucky and there was a lot of interest. We started a bidding war between 4 publishers over the book and we got to take our pick.
November 2015: I chose to work with the Avery imprint at Penguin Random House. I chose them because (1) they made a great offer and (2) I loved the particular team that was working on my book. They seemed excited about it and genuinely interested in me. Plus, they were laughing with each other and seemed like they actually enjoyed working together. In any long-term project, team chemistry is key.
December 2015: I sign a contract and agree to write the book in one year.
Late 2016: One year in. Writing is going very slow. I realize I need to research a lot more. Perfectionism spirals out of control. I become committed to writing the definitive book on habits. Constant stress in the months leading up to the deadline. Feels like I'm letting everyone down. Questioning the worthiness of the whole project.
November 2016: We ask for an extension of another year. Thankfully, my publisher is amazing and grants me the additional time. Back to writing.
All of 2017: Another year of writing. Very little outside feedback. I feel lonely. I struggle a lot. I blow past the new deadline too.
Early 2018: The pain is over. I hand in the manuscript three months late, but it's finally done. I feel proud of what I wrote.
Mid 2018: We spend nine months planning and working on the book launch. I do 80+ podcast interviews in two months. I write dozens of text interviews. I call in every favor I can think of. I try to be anywhere and everywhere.
October 16, 2018: Launch day. I fly to New York and do a segment on CBS This Morning. All of those interviews I had recorded begin to release. The book vaults into the Top 10 on Amazon and the Top 10 on Audible. It stays there all week.
October 25, 2018: Atomic Habits is named a New York Times best seller.