Once upon a time, there was a man who wanted to build a hut.
He had seen many huts in his village, small huts, big huts, beautiful huts. He wanted his hut to be the most beautiful one in the whole village.
But he had never built a hut before.
He didn’t let that little detail stop him from building one. After all, he had seen many huts being built. He was sure he knew enough to build one by himself. If others can build it, so can he.
So he got on to work. He diligently cut the grass and dried it, erected the bamboo poles, and tied the dried grass to it. And then put on a thatch roof. But he didn’t know how to tie the thatch properly.
The very first time the storm came, it blew the roof away.
The man was devastated, but he didn’t give up. He put on another roof.
But sadly, the same thing happened again.
He tried one more time, this time tying the thatch harder than before.
But it, too, didn’t last until the next storm. By this time, the grass walls had started deteriorating too.
Disheartened, he went to the village elders and asked them what was he doing wrong.
Elders told him that half the knowledge is worse than ignorance.
One elder, who had built many huts before, sat with the man and made a plan for the hut on the dirt ground.
He then went through all the steps the man needed to take to build the hut that can stand the storm.
The elder also taught the man how to make different kinds of knots.
When the man started building the hut from scratch, the elder checked his work at each step and corrected it if needed.
Within days, and with much less effort, the man erected the hut.
And it was the most beautiful hut in the village.
Why?
Because it was built with the heart and the brain.
The man’s heart and the elder’s knowledge.
Both are essential for any project to be successful.
My # 1 problem too was lack of a plan.
I was pouring my heart into my writing, but didn’t have a plan for where I wanted to take it.
Once I figured that out, I could address all other obstacles.
Do you have a plan for your writing?
Have you figured out where you want to take it?