You don’t always notice when your work becomes something more. Until it does.
One day, you look back and realize it wasn’t the volume of work that changed things. It was how the pieces began to hold together.
When you’ve been working on something for a long time, the central question eventually changes.
It’s no longer Am I doing enough?
Instead, you start to wonder what, exactly, has been taking shape underneath all the effort. Not as a set of projects, but as a whole.
This is the moment when work stops being just activity and begins to feel like something you’ve been building.
It happens slowly, often without announcement. It’s when the work is placed well enough (and long enough) that it starts to accumulate.
It’s the difference between doing work and building a body of work.
Doing work is episodic. It lives in sprints, seasons, tasks completed and replaced. It’s measured by output and momentum.
A body of work is cumulative. It forms when separate efforts begin to relate to one another. It’s when earlier work informs later work, when themes recur, and when the thinking deepens instead of starting over each time.
You don’t usually recognize this while you’re in motion. Accumulation reveals itself in retrospect.
Of course, not everything you commit to is meant to accumulate.
- Some work exists to teach you something and then end.
- Some work exists to clear space.
- Some work exists to prove that an idea doesn’t need to be taken further. This isn’t wasted effort. It’s part of building coherence.
What does accumulate tends to share a few qualities, though they’re easier to feel than to name. A few I’ve found:
🔵 It lasts.
Not because it’s constantly renewed, but because it continues to matter even when you stop tending it.
🔵 It finishes cleanly.
It reaches a point of completion without loose ends.
🔵 It no longer needs constant explanation.
The work begins to speak for itself, without you defending or reframing it each time.
Coherent work grows steadier over time. Decisions become easier, not because there are fewer options, but because fewer fit. The work begins to take on its own form.
You can usually tell when something stops accumulating. The effort stays high, but the work doesn’t deepen. It repeats instead of compounding. Often, the pressure isn’t to keep going. It’s to stop.
Now to be clear, stopping is not the opposite of commitment. Stopping, when done deliberately, is part of what makes commitment whole.
Some work needs to be closed so that accumulated work can stand on its own. Ending something well is part of its integrity.
That’s not a decision made lightly or quickly. It becomes clear only after enough sustained work has been done to see the underlying pattern.
I hope this distinction gives you a fresh way to look at your own work. Not to judge or optimize it. Just to notice what has developed over time, and what may already be complete.
A moment to notice
Before you move on, take a moment to view your work through this lens.
Think about the projects you’ve been carrying for a while. Not the newest ones, but the ones with some background.
Without judging or fixing anything, ask yourself:
- Which of these feels like it’s been accumulating?
- Which taught you what it needed to?
- Which may already be complete, even if you haven’t named it that way yet?
You don’t need answers right now. Just notice what comes into focus when you stop asking what’s next and start asking what’s been forming.
That shift alone is often enough.
A personal update
This is Issue #99 of Solo Field Notes, and next week’s issue (#100) will be the last. This body of work has reached a point where it no longer needs to continue.
What’s ahead? I’ll be shifting my focus to a long-held passion project: writing a historical novel about a fictional girl inventor living amid the real-life circle of the brightest minds of the Industrial Revolution, known as the Lunar Society.
You can get a sneak peek here (and subscribe to my new Substack newsletter). It debuts February 10th, and I’ll share more details next week.
Here are three hand-picked resources to enhance your work as a solopreneur:
🪄 Podcast Magic, a fave new tool
Ever listen to a podcast and think, Oh, I need to remember that idea! And then, of course, you don’t. (Yeah, been there.)
Podcast Magic makes saving those moments almost effortless. When you hear something worth keeping, just take a screenshot of the Spotify or Apple Podcasts player and email it to PodcastMagic. In less than a minute, you get back a short audio clip and a transcript of that exact moment, ready to email, post, or add to your “great ideas” collection. No app, login, or subscription needed.
🧠 Decision-making, and why smart people do dumb things
This thoughtful piece from neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff (author of the 2025 bestseller, Tiny Experiments) explores why decision-making often feels harder than it needs to be. She outlines three distinct decision-making styles, identifies five types of mental baggage we commonly bring into decisions, and introduces a six-step framework.
Clear and action-oriented, it reframes decisions not as tests to get right, but as moments to better understand ourselves and our thinking.
🧑💻 Showing Up Well on Video (without performing)
If you do any kind of client work, teaching, or presenting on video, presence matters. Cat Mulvihill’s Virtual Charisma is a mini online course on how to come across clearly and confidently on camera. No more forcing energy or performing a version of yourself that doesn’t fit.
I’ve known Cat for several years, and she’s a master at this. That depth of experience shows in her reach. Her videos have reached more than 1.6 million views on YouTube. This course is free, sponsored by Airtime (formerly mmhmm), and a smart investment of 22 minutes if video plays any role in your work now, or is likely to soon.
Virtual Charisma also marks the completion of a body of work Cat developed over several years around presence and communication. Her current work centers on helping people get unstuck and build momentum, which is well worth exploring next.
Until next week: Stay small. Play big.
Terri
P.S. When you’re ready for more, here are a few resources from the Solo Business School:
Want to send a question or comment? Please do — I read (and respond to) my email.
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Authority By Design is a registered trademark, and Content Velocity and Working Solo are trademarks, of Make International LLC. Issue #099.
