Why I Start with the Easy Stuff First
- Mawarni Adam
- Apr 12
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 17
TL;DR, jump directly to the why here.
Ever heard of the "Eat the Frog" method? It's a method where you tackle the ugly, disgusting, and often the hardest thing on your to-do list, which you would rather put off until later because it requires more focus, extra effort, and mental power to get it done. Even Mark Twain once said, "Eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." Many sayings and arguments would try to convince us to do the hardest thing first - to get it out of the way, to gain momentum, and to have a small win so we can do the smaller and easier tasks later, but I prefer to start with the easy stuff first, especially when it comes to writing and book publishing.
If you have been following my social media posts and blog articles or browsed my website, you'll know that I have published a few low- to medium-content books—a how-to book and a collection of colouring books, which are a precursor to what's to come. You see, my endgame has always been writing and self-publishing high-content books - specifically, writing adult novels that are fiction or inspired by true events (Oh, how I have endless materials to write about on the latter!). But writing novels is hard - as a rookie, it feels like "climbing Mount Everest" hard. Not that I'd know anything about how ascending the mountain feels like; I wouldn't have a clue, but you get my point. I would need more time, practice, and gradual acclimation to the demands of such a daunting but exciting and rewarding task.
My List of Easiest to the Hardest
I've sat on a fiction novel idea for over a decade, clumsily writing epilogue after epilogue, but never an actual chapter yet. There are characters I see in my dreams and conversations that I hear them having, human emotions as colourful as the rainbow, and strange but wonderful vivid moments that are taking place, all just waiting to be told and written. Yet, it is one of the hardest things. So after a period of agonizing over how to start, I decided to flip the process - leaving the hardest towards the end and doing what I consider the easier ones first. And that's how I came up with my writing and self-publishing to-do list... working my way through one by one until I have no more excuses but to write my first novel.
Here’s the list:
Write a how-to book on personal branding for introverts.
Don't leave out the extroverts on personal branding; do one for them too.
Colouring books for adults; making colouring cool again. It helps manage stress, too.
Children's illustrated picture books.
Adult fiction novels - this is my Everest!
A memoir on what I hope will be about a life well-lived.
Today, I'm happy to cross out two items off the list (items 1 and 3), with four more to go.
How I Came Up with the To-Do List
In my first book, "The Introvert's Guide to Personal Branding", I wrote about IKIGAI. It is a Japanese concept about finding your life's purpose by identifying what you love, what you are good at, what you can be paid for, what the world needs, and how all of them intersect and come together to provide you with a so-called map to finding what makes you feel alive and fulfilled.
Here's how it looks on the IKIGAI map. I then ranked the tasks from the easiest to the hardest.
Some commonly asked questions:
Why books on personal branding?
This sits at the intersection of what I am good at, what I love, what I can be paid for, and what the world needs = my purpose. Having been a marketer and brand builder professionally for over 20+ years, this is down my alley. Instead of writing a book about companies I've helped, I opted to help individuals become their best selves.
Why colouring books?
This sits at the intersection of what I love and what I am good at = my passion.
Why children's books?
Like the colouring books, this sits at the intersection of what I love and what I am good at = my passion.
Why adult novels?
We all have stories to tell. I think that at this point in my life, having gone through life's experiences, I may be a subject matter expert on dealing with narcissists and their flying monkeys, gaslighting, and trauma-bonding, so there may be a novel or two on those themes. On the IKIGAI map, the adult novels sit at what I love, but I hope it will cross over to what I am good at, what I can be paid for, and what the world needs.
Authors Who Inspire Me
I couldn't write about writing without mentioning writers and authors that I admire across genres, but these three authors have inspired me the most in recent years...
J.K. Rowling
Who doesn't know J.K. Rowling? She's the legendary author of Harry Potter, an astronomical success in books and film series? Yes, she's the one. According to her website, she wrote her first story, "Rabbit" when she was six years old, and her first novel about seven cursed diamonds when she was eleven. The idea for Harry Potter and Hogwarts came a few years later while sitting on a delayed train back to her home. She imagined and planned it to be seven books and plotted the whole story from then on. Then life happened: her mother died, she moved to Portugal, got married, and had her first daughter. But her marriage didn't work out, and she took her daughter and the first three chapters of Harry Potter in a suitcase and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, where her sister lived. While trying to survive as a single mother, she found work as a French teacher and continued to write in every spare moment she had. After she finished the full manuscript, she sent the first three chapters to a number of literary agents. Lots of them turned it down, but one agent changed her life forever. In 1997, seven years after she started, the first Harry Potter book was published, and it would take her nearly another 10 years to write and publish the next six books of the Harry Potter series. She said on her website that when she finished writing the final, seventh book in 2007, she had been living with Harry for seventeen years.
How do I relate to her? Her love for writing and the hardships she faced powered her creativity and focus. I'd like to believe that what she may have felt at the start of Harry Potter was that when nothing else in the world is going right, she can always fall back on her writing talent and create something beautiful from scratch. And no one can take that away from her.
Stephenie Meyer
She is famously known as the author of The Twilight Saga, which has been made into a wildly successful five-part box-office film series from 2008 to 2012. She first started writing a few random chapters in 1997, but she said she never got very far with it. She set it aside and didn't write anything for six years. Then, in 2003, it all changed. She woke up from a vivid dream, where two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods - one of them was an average girl, and the other was a beautiful, sparkly being. On her website, she confessed that though she had a million things to do for her children on that day, she couldn't stop thinking about the dream. So, she typed out as much as she could to not lose the mental image, and from that point on, not a day passed that she did not write something. When she finished, she sent the book out to 15 publishers and got about eight rejection letters. She persevered, worked with an amazing editor to get Twilight into shape, and eventually got published. Twilight went from a dream to being written and accepted for publication in the course of six months. Wow, that's amazing!
How do I relate to her? In two ways. Firstly, she had written random chapters years before and didn't write again until six years later. For me, it was about 10 years before I put pen to paper again, so to speak. Secondly, she vividly dreamt about her characters. I did, too, but unlike her, I am still stalling, still trying to psyche myself up to that "Everest".
Colleen Hoover
She is famously known as the author of "It Ends With Us", now a movie starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. She wrote her first novel in 2011, when she knew nothing about the publishing industry. Her first novel, "Slammed" was made available on Kindle, just so her grandmother could read it. She followed it up with her second novel, "Point of Retreat". Influential book bloggers and social media took notice, and through word of mouth, she found early success. Unsurprisingly, publishers were interested. Despite having traditional contracts with at least three publishers, Colleen continued to self-publish some of her work. She said on her social media that "Verity" was turned down by her publisher when it was still in idea form. She wrote it anyway, published it independently, and it is now one of her highest-selling books ever. "Verity" is currently being made into a movie, starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnet.
How do I relate to her? I love that she didn't take NO for an answer when her idea was turned down, and went ahead to write her book anyway and self-published it. And gained massive success while at it. Talk about trusting her intuition!
Back to Why I Start with the Easy Stuff First
So, do you see why now writing novels can be like conquering Everest? Even the most successful writers and authors took years to find focus, inspiration, and motivation. But I think I might have found a better way to approach it. Here are the three reasons why I start with the easy stuff first, and I hope it will help you, too.
Overcome procrastination
Start small. No, you are not lazy about writing a book or dissertation that's 80,000 to 100,000 words. You are just overwhelmed. It is a huge task. Desmond Tutu once said, "There is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time," meaning even the impossible can be accomplished gradually by taking on just a little at a time.
It builds momentum
By starting with easy steps, you trick your brain into wanting to start - that you can do it, and feel proud of yourself for having accomplished a little, too. Neuroscience explains that the release of dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter, doesn't get released before you start a task. It often kicks in after you've made some progress and built momentum.
Slowly gain the writing or self-publishing muscles
What seems complicated today may be easy tomorrow because you started small and accomplished the easier stuff first. If writing or self-publishing seems terrifyingly hard today, perhaps you can build the necessary writing muscles by slowly gaining experience with short stories or low-to-medium content books. This approach may strengthen you for tomorrow, enabling you to tackle more challenging tasks, such as writing a full novel. You may even tell yourself, "It's not that hard after all".
The adage "practice makes perfect" comes to mind! Remember that "The expert at anything was once a beginner" - Helen Hayes.
~M
Sources and attributions:
About Mawarni
Mawarni Adam is a marketer and brand builder. She is a 2x business founder and has worked with individuals and companies for over 20 years, helping them shape, sharpen, and strengthen their brands through strategic branding, integrated marketing, communications, and customer experience. She is a mother to two daughters and writes about her personal experiences in topics she is passionate about, such as self-growth, women's advocacy, and community development. Read her full bio here.
