The long game isn't a smooth game

This week, the manuscript updates for The FaithFULL Leader went to my editor.

One sentence. Eighteen months of everything behind it.

Let me tell you what that sentence actually took.

It started with a room
In May 2025, I wrote about a session with a group of young leaders that stopped me - the hunger in that room for content that held their faith and their professional ambitions in the same framework. That post ended with a promise to share more.

The FaithFULL Leader is that more.

Before that session, I hadn't genuinely believed that something I would write would be wanted by others. That room changed that.

What I realised is that you don't decide to write a book from a moment like that. You get called into one.

What happened next - honestly
I started well. Most of Part I came together within a few months. The ideas were flowing, the framework was clear, the words were arriving.

And then they weren't. 

Life does what life does. Energy tapered. Other priorities filled the space. The manuscript sat.

Towards the end of the year, I travelled to South Africa to visit my parents. And I made myself a commitment: I would finish the first draft while I was there.

I didn't quite get it across the line. But I wrote nearly a chapter a day. I got deep into Part III. I wrote in the presence of the people where so much of what the book is about was first modelled for me - long before I had language for it. 

When I came back, the taper returned. The excusitis crept in. The manuscript sat again.

Then a few friends asked about it. Casually. Genuinely. "How's the book going?" 

That was enough. The next ignition point. I got it out for feedback, sat with the reviewers' responses for months, turned over every suggestion, made the updates. Reached out to a self-publishing consultancy. Found an editor.

And this week - it went.

The three things that almost stopped me
I want to name them. Not as confession but as recognition and as a lesson - because at least one of them is probably sitting in your long game right now.

Doubt. Can I really do this? Me? Write a book of actual substance that people would want to read? That question showed up early and returned often. It doesn't fully go away - in fact, it's sitting right here while I type this very sentence! What I've learned is you just stop waiting for it to leave before you keep going.

Energy. I didn't consistently protect my capacity for the work. A long game requires a bench -  you cannot play at full intensity every week without building depth behind it. When I neglected that, the manuscript paid the price.

Excusitis. The story I told myself that it requires money I don't have. That the timing isn't right. That there are more urgent things. All of it dressed up as reason. Most of it was fear in a decent suit.

What Dr Rassie understands
The Springboks are currently playing a series of test matches. Each week, the squad 23 changes significantly. Commentators question the selections. Fans debate the rotations.

But Dr Rassie isn't confused. He's building toward the 2027 Rugby World Cup. #IYKYK

Every decision being made right now - every player given minutes, every combination tested, every seemingly strange call - is part of a plan most people watching can't see yet. The short-term results are good. But they're almost a byproduct of the longer game being played.

That's what a long game actually looks like from the outside. Inconsistent. Difficult to follow. Occasionally hard to justify.

From the inside, it's the only thing that makes sense.

What the bursts and tapers taught me
My martial arts training taught me that discipline meant unbroken momentum. That the people who finish things are the ones who never stop.

That's not what I lived. And I don't think it's what most people live either.

What I lived was a series of ignitions. Each one getting me further than the last. A room of hungry young leaders. A commitment made in the presence of my parents. Friends who asked a simple question at the right moment. None of it planned. All of it necessary. 

The long game isn't won through relentless forward motion. It's won by finding the next ignition point every time the momentum fades. And by not mistaking the taper for the ending.

The manuscript is with the editor now. The manuscript is with the editor now. I still can't believe I'm typing this. Somebody, pinch me.

The FaithFULL Leader - an Islamic perspective for modern leadership - is closer to the world than it has ever been.

And that room of young leaders who showed me this was needed? I haven't forgotten them. This book is for them. And for everyone who has ever felt that their faith and their professional ambition belonged in separate boxes.

They don't.

Final thought
So here are the questions I'm sitting with - and I'd invite you to sit with them too:

• What long game are you playing that looks inconsistent or hard to justify from the outside - but makes complete sense from where you're standing?

• What almost stopped you - and which of the three showed up most: doubt, energy or excusitis?

• And what was your last ignition point? More importantly - do you know what your next one might be?

Because the long game isn't a smooth game. It's just the only game worth playing. 

Go on. Take the Next Step.