Mozart wrote over seven hundred pieces of music. Agatha Christie penned sixty-nine novels. John Wayne has nearly two hundred film credits to his name. Guitarist Denis Taaffe has records one hundred and eighty seven full-length studio albums since 1999. That’s one album every month!

With staggering bodies of work such as these, it’s easy to become overwhelmed when we can’t even finish a tweet, much less and entire novel, or seventy.

What does it take to construct a body of work like this? The answer is deceptively simple. Work. Lifetime achievement is the sum of thousands of hard working days. It happens when the artist is fully committed to her craft and shows up everyday to do the work regardless of circumstances. The work isn’t an option, it’s work, and if it’s done with enough consistency she just might experience the fun of finishing it.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was worked on everyday. That is what it takes to be an artist. That’s what it takes to create.