I hear you. Deep breaths. Let’s break it down.

I want you to imagine how a super-successful author writes a book.

Like Stephen King or Margaret Atwood.

What does it look like in your head?

Do they walk into a room with a pot of coffee and a typewriter and just bang the whole thing out perfectly in one marathon sitting?

We know that’s not how it works.

An author cultivates a writing process that’s unique to them. Stephen King describes this in his book On Writing, saying he would sit at his desk and write every day, and then spend a good portion of the rest of his day reading (taking breaks of course to watch the Red Sox).

When you look at his work, you see books in the hundreds of pages. Which is a monumental achievement.

But when you look at his habits: going to his desk to write, going to his living room to read…things feel a little bit more achievable.

So often, when we consider our own goals, we get overwhelmed at the scale. We think of the end product, and the amount of effort that it would take to get there.

In order to achieve the biggest goals in your life, what you need to do is make small changes that help support you every day.

As author and CEO, Megan Williams, said in Forbes, success is a moving target: “Goals continue to grow as your story does.” But if we spend our lives chasing moving targets—especially our own day-to-day growth—we’ll stay stuck spinning our wheels.

The key is to make small shifts in our environment that reflect where we’re going next.

Let’s say you wanted to write the next great American novel. But your pens and notebooks and laptop are all stored in a closet. You’re going to be less likely to sit at your desk and write because your environment isn’t setting you up for success.

Instead, if you have a desk with all your materials on it and all you need to do is sit down, you’re going to write more.

These tiny little things may not seem like much in a day-to-day way. But over time, they add up. And one day, you’ll look up and realize you’ve achieved that huge goal.

And you’ll be the one providing this same advice to others.

And by this time next year, your book could be sharing shelf space with today’s bestsellers.* By choosing TSPA — The Self Publishing Agency — as your writing and publishing team, your book will meet the same standards as the Big 5 publishers, have full control, faster timelines, and 100% royalties.

Your dream is not too big to be true.

If 2026 is the year you start writing, get in touch now.

On Wednesday’s episode of On Purpose, I spoke with Mark Rober – somebody who embodies his own purpose so brilliantly. Mark Rober is an inventor, engineer, and YouTuber who built his entire unusual career on chasing curiosity. Mark’s dedication to curiosity and childlike creativity led him from a NASA engineer to an online educator and beyond. The conversation is a blast that will certainly energize and excite you to keep believing that you’re capable of accomplishing far more than you realize.

Take a moment to think about a goal you have that seems far off. Something big and maybe even a little intangible.

Try This: What’s something small you can do regularly to help get there? For instance, if you want to buy a house, maybe your small deed can be to save a small portion of every pay check. Or if you want to run a marathon, you can make running a priority.

Now, what’s one way you can adjust your environment to make that small habit easy? Like putting a reminder on your calendar at pay day, or setting your running shoes next to the door.

Take the step in 2025, and you can have a book ready to sell in 2026.

For writers, coaches, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs who want to turn their story into a bestseller, TSPA — The Self Publishing Agency — is the trusted standard in the publishing industry.