The barge method is when you produce and publish massive quantities of work without overthinking or overefforting at all. We learn so much by doing. The ROI on the barge method is “insane."
What kept him functional, practically, was a radical narrowing of scope. Not the war in total. Not Rome’s fate across centuries. Not legacy or defeat or what history would say about him. Just: what is the appropriate action in front of me today. When the full scale of a problem becomes too large to hold, you shrink the frame until you find something you can actually act on. Then you act. Then you do it again tomorrow.
“Never try to convey your idea to the audience—it is a thankless and senseless task. Show them life, and they’ll find within themselves the means to assess and appreciate it.” — Andrei Tarkovsky