Read Time: 2.5 Minutes

I had a tough conversation a couple of years ago.

It was with someone who was doing everything right. Showing up consistently. Putting in the work. Making progress by any measure.

On paper, things were going well.

But underneath?

Exhaustion. The kind where you're not sure if any of it even matters anymore.

The Confession

When I pushed a little deeper, it all came out:

"I can't watch TV in the evening without feeling guilty that I'm not working."

"I go for a walk and spend the entire time mentally writing to-do lists."

"My wife talks to me and I'm nodding along while running through ad dashboards and spreadsheets in my head."

The worst part?

This person had built something most people could only dream of. A growing business. Real results. Genuine momentum.

And they couldn't enjoy any of it.

The Trap

Here's what nobody tells you about building a business around your books:

The guilt doesn't come from doing too little. It comes from never defining what "enough" looks like.

When there's no finish line, everything feels unfinished.

So you either work all the time, or you don't work and feel terrible about it.

Both options are rubbish.

This person knew it too. They could see the pattern. They could articulate exactly what was wrong.

But knowing and fixing are two very different things.

The Fix

The answer wasn't to work harder. It was to build a container.

A focused window of three to four hours in the morning. Real work. Deep work. Then stop.

Not because there's nothing left to do. There's always something left to do.

But because one focused morning spent on the right task will outperform six scattered hours of "being busy" every single time.

The same is true for you.

One focused hour improving your blurb or testing a new ad image beats an entire weekend of half-hearted multitasking with Netflix on in the background.

The Permission Slip

The person I was talking to needed to hear something simple:

You don't need to work more. You need to work on the right things, inside a window that has edges. Then let the rest of your life be your life.

Write your books. Run your ads. Build and nurture your audience. But put boundaries around it.

Then go watch TV. Play with your kids. Walk the dog. Go to the gym. Make time for date night with your spouse.

Not because you've earned it. Because that's the whole point.

Your author business is supposed to give you freedom.

Don't build a prison with it instead.

Oh, One More Thing

That person I was talking to?

It was me.

A conversation I had with myself while walking our dogs at 7am, mentally trying to figure out why my Facebook Ads were crashing and burning.

I wasn't on a coaching call. I wasn't mentoring anyone. I was standing in a muddy field in the English countryside having a full-blown strategy meeting with myself while one of our dogs was rolling in something she shouldn't.

It was the moment I realised I'd built something good and completely forgotten to enjoy it.

Today, I work three to four hours a day. Not because there's nothing to do. But because I've learned that a focused morning beats a frantic week.

It's not a productivity hack. It's just how I've chosen to run my life and my business.

And it took that conversation in a muddy field to get there.

If any of this hit a nerve, take it as your permission slip too.

Thank you so much for reading.

See you next Saturday and have a wonderful weekend.

To Your Success
– Matt