On finishing hard things (and why I'm having a Bare Minimum Week)

Yesterday, I submitted the first draft of my manuscript to my publisher.

This book - my fifth, if we're counting (which we are) - has been, far and away, the most challenging work project I've tackled in years. I started dreaming up the concept back in December 2024. Got the book deal in March. Started properly writing in April. And now after seven (mostly agonising) months, it's done.

A few months ago (when I was feeling completely overwhelmed by the project), I had a coffee with a fairly well-known personality who was also mid-book-writing. His first book. He shared with me the massive self-doubt pit he, too, had found himself in. And this was someone who from the outside, seemed so confident, articulate, and smart.

As well as being surprised to hear his experience, I also felt so seen. I was not alone!

Because I'd been living in a huge pit of self-doubt. Setting up permanent residence. For weeks and weeks (which, when you've got seven months total to write a book, is a terrifyingly long time). I couldn't see how all the pieces I wanted to include would ever fit together. I felt lost. Convinced I'd somehow fluked my way through four previous books.

It was weirdly comforting to know this wasn't just me having a personal crisis. That this fog of "what am I even doing and who said I could write books?" is apparently part of the territory.

Anyway. I made it through. The book is written. And I'm happier with this one than any of the others, which feels like a small miracle.

And now I have hit send on the email to Penguin, I was thinking about how we're so conditioned to just move on to the next thing. Tick, done, next. Big project finished? Brilliant. What's on tomorrow's calendar? What's the next mountain to climb? The next goal to smash?

No.

Absolutely not. (Well, not this time).

This week, I'm having what I'm calling a Bare Minimum Week.

I'm deliberately not working much at all. I'm being delightfully self-indulgent about what I actually need right now. (It involves a lot of reading for pleasure, minimal time at my computer, and possibly a decent amount of reality TV that I will neither confirm nor deny involves people getting engaged without ever having seen the other person IRL).

When we don't pause to acknowledge the hard things we've done, we rob ourselves of the satisfaction that makes the hard work worth it. We skip the bit where we let ourselves feel proud, or relieved, or just… done.

So if you've recently hit a big milestone, like finishing a project, wrapping up something challenging, surviving six hours straight of Teams meetings, I want to suggest you consider giving yourself a Bare Minimum Week too.

Not because you need my permission (you obviously don't), but because you've earned it. And because rushing straight to the next thing doesn't make you more productive - it just makes you more tired and less able to appreciate what you've actually accomplished.

The next thing can wait a week. It'll still be there. Trust me.

Until next time (most likely from my couch),