Lately I've been working on all kind of small projects, articles for Steemit and Medium and actions for Graphic River and Creative Market. While doing that I thought about the reasons people avoid working on big projects, why everyone is so afraid of starting to do something not as easy, something that may require them to work more than usual.
I realized that some people may be afraid of trying such thing because they fear failure. They are so afraid of not being able to complete that big project, that they would rather not even consider doing it. It's easier to just work on small things that are guaranteed to succeed, more or less, than trying to work on something bigger that may fail.
Another reason people may have for avoiding working on big projects may be the fear of not being good enough. We all have certain skills that we acquired over the years, but working on something we never really worked on before may mean we either need to learn something new or that we need to use our skills in a way we never did before.
I consider all those reasons to be just excuses, things people invent in order to avoid working on something that will require more of their time. If they start working on a big project it means they'll have less time to play video games and watch movies, and no one really likes that. Everyone wants to have some fun from time to time, but if you need to work on something pretty big, you'll need to sacrifice all that fun time and invest it into your work.
However, I strongly believe that big and complex projects are what's gonna help us get the rewards we so much want. I experienced this two weeks ago, after writing two long articles that were upvoted by @curie. I made around $300 from both articles in less than 7 days, something that never happened to me before.
That's when I realized how much you can gain from investing a few more hours in projects that are more complex than what you normally do. They will require more work and they will require you to focus more on what you're doing, but the rewards you can get are amazing. Besides that, you'll feel really proud of your work and you'll be more willing to share it with everyone interested in seeing it.
For example, one thing I've been working on for a while now is a fantasy story that has around 16 pages, something I wanted to do in the past but never did. I wrote it in around two days, but I never had the time to really look at it and make sure it's as good as it can be. I managed to rewrite the first two or three pages, but there are still things that need to be changed in order for the story to be better.
However, since now I have one week at my disposal to create and curate articles for Steemit, I'll work on that fantasy story when I don't do anything else, and hopefully publish it by the end of this week.
It's something I never did in the past, but that's exactly what's exciting about it. It's a new project, it can have multiple outcomes, and I have no idea how people will react. They may love it or they may hate it. What's important is to not stagnate and to always come up with something new, because that's the only way to move forward.
So, if you didn't do it before, or if you didn't do it in a long time, try to think of a big project you would like to work on, and start investing at least one hour every single day trying to make that project reality. It is scary and you may fail, but I assure you that the rewards you can get if the project succeeds are way bigger than the things you'll lose if it fails.
Great advice, I've been having fun fiddling with small to medium things, but have some ideas about a big kahuna or two as well ! peace / upvote ... gotta explore @curie as well
Good luck with your big projects, and thank you for the comment! :)
Awesome. I'm in a similar boat as far as writing. I'm working on a story as well (one with a lot of fantasy elements too!), a bigger story than I've ever attempted before, and I'm allowing myself a lot of time and effort to make it the best it can be.
I dig the positivity and general intention of this post. And I'll follow to hopefully be able to read your story when you finish it!
Thank you very much for your kind words, and good luck with your story! :()
Thank you for the advice.
You're welcome :)
Wow this is such a motivating and uplifting post! I definitely have found myself shying away from certain projects because it seems daunting, and I am afraid I won't be able to finish it or produce something great, but the reality is you just have to put yourself out there and do the damn thing lol! Getting in the habit of 'doing' can be a daunting task in itself but like you said there are so many rewards when you actually put in work. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this! Definitely resteem worthy :)
Thank you for your kind words and for your comment, good luck with your future projects! :)