What does your body of work look like? What have you created over the course of the last
decade? If you don't have much to show for your efforts, what do you want your body of
work to look like over the course of the next decade?
   A body of work for authors would encompass the books they have written. A body of work
for filmmakers would encompass the movies they've made. A body of work for YouTubers
would encompass the videos they've created. A body of work for developers would encompass
the buildings they've built. These are often big things that take time to create. They are also
things that subsequently provide income to the creator. The author, filmmaker, YouTuber, and
developer are creating income-producing assets ... from nothing ... but their time.

   Stephen King writes for about 4 hours every day. Between 1974 and 1983 King published 15
novels. His first novel, Carrie, was published when he was 26 years old. His next 14 published novels
include Salem's Lot, The Shining, Rage, The Stand, The Long Walk, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, Roadwork,
Cujo, The Running Man, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, Christine, Pet Sematary, and Cycle of the
Werewolf. No doubt you'll recognize that many of these novels were subsequently made into movies.
   Creating a body of work takes time. Initially your return on investment is going to be zero. It might be
zero for a long time. It might be zero, for any individual project, forever. However, if you put the time in
and work to improve your process over years, eventually you should see results. The question is, what
are you putting your time into? How are you, literally, investing your time? Are you investing your time
into a future body of work or are you spending all your time on things that will have no future return on investment
whatsoever?
   People who create bodies of work sacrifice a certain amount of time today in order to create future
assets. They are planting seeds. They are growing as creators. It starts with deciding to allocate time to
create things for the future. For your future. As such, what if , to start, you set aside just one hour a day to the
creating process. Just start there. You can always work up to two hours, or Stephen King's four hours.
Maybe you have to get up an hour earlier each day given your schedule. So be it. But carve that out and
do so in deference to your future self. Finally, imagine looking back, one decade from now, reflecting proudly
upon the body of work you will have created ... from nothing ... but your time.