Ask yourself this one question before you get started

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Several months ago, I was talking with James Clear, the author of the New York Times Best Seller, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.

Atomic Habits sold over 1 million copies in its first year, and has some of the highest ratings you'll see on any book.

And he told me that the book took somewhere between 3-5 years to complete. Three to five YEARS. And that's after several years of writing for his blog, much of which was refined into the book itself.

In other interviews, I've heard James talk about how long the first draft of the book was – somewhere close to 900 pages. In the end, the book was 320 pages.

But when you invest 3-5 years into something, it can be easy to lose sight of the forest and get lost in the trees.

But he told me there was one question he would keep returning to:

"In my case, the question that I kept coming back to, if I never knew what to write, or I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing, I just kept asking myself, 'What is the object of the reader's desire?'

So in my case, it's a book about habits. The front cover says how to build good habits and break bad ones. And so if I ever didn't know what to write, if I wasn't sure if what I was working on was valid, valuable or not, I just asked myself, 'What is the object of the readers desire? Well, nobody is picking this book up except to build good habits and break bad ones. So if you don't know what to write, write about that.'

And that did help me quite a few times when I like wasn't clear about is this section worth it or not? Well, does it help people build good habits or break bad ones? And there was a lot of editing and trimming and cutting that that happened because of that line in questioning."

What is the object of the reader's desire?

Y-Combinator has been banging the drum for years to "Make something people want."

But as a creator, I love this particular frame.

If a reader, or listener, or viewer is checking your work out...what is the object of their desire?

If someone came to my article on health insurance, what is the reader's desire? Well, it's probably to understand their options for health insurance and figure out their next step.

If someone enrolls in Freelancing School, what is their desire? To make an independent living freelancing.

The same is true of the work you do for your clients. What is the object of my client's desire?

It may be lower costs, higher revenue, increased traffic, or increased conversion. It may be that their assets look better than their competitors.

Whatever it is, if you identity and fulfill that desire, your client is going to be very happy with you – and likely refer you to others, if not continue to hire you!

Now when I conduct interviews for Creative Elements, I ask myself before I start the interview: "What is the object of the listeners' desire?" It totally shapes the questions I ask, the narrative arch of the interview, and so on.

Yesterday I published that conversation with James Clear on Creative Elements, and I'd love for you to take a listen.

In this episode, we discuss the lessons learned from writing such a successful book, the sacrifices required, and what it truly means to do A+ work.

How to listen to Creative Elements

It's available on any app you use to listen to podcasts (just search "Creative Elements").

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Everywhere else

I hope you give it a listen and enjoy it. And if you do, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

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Jay Clouse is the creator of Freelancing School, which provides the training and community to help people make a living freelancing. He is also the founder of Unreal Collective, a community for founders, freelancers, and creators that runs a 12-week accelerator program.

Jay hosts Creative Elements, which interviews high-profile creators who have made their own independent living.

You can connect with Jay on Twitter @jayclouse or sign up for his Sunday newsletter for creatives at jayclouse.com.