I would like to hold out a vision for you today—a vision of what I believe could unfold for you in your business, platform, or life, once you write your book and publish. Maybe my vision will resonate with you, maybe it won’t, but hear me out for a few minutes, and then tell me whether this vision hits home for you.
Right now, you’re struggling.
You’re building something. Maybe it’s brand new, just a seed of an idea. Maybe you’ve been sweating away, building for years, wondering when the breakthrough’s going to happen.
The thing that your building might be a business, where you serve clients and customers in a unique way, a way that fulfills your soul. Or you might be building a platform, one that brings a message of hope and encouragement to people who desperately need it.
Whatever you’re building, you are also in the midst of creating a life of meaning. You have goals, you can almost see what your life will look like when you reach those goals, but you don’t know how to reach them.
Some days, you feel invisible, don’t you? Like you have a message to share and no one to share it with? Although, sometimes you open up to people around you about what you’re doing, and you get supportive feedback like, “Wow, you’re doing something incredible!”
And you get amped up, ready to go talk to more people about your business or platform, only to realize you actually have very few people who are waiting to hear your message. What a disheartening, invisible feeling.
There are moments when you reach Friday afternoon, you look back, and you wonder what in the world you actually accomplished over the last week. It’s like you spend your days, busy building your business or platform, but you don’t see any progress, no forward momentum.
You look forward to 2016, half in hope that something will finally change, half in dread that it’ll be the same story, all over again. You want to create a massive change, not only in your life, but in others’ lives, too. But the emailing and the social media and talking to random people just isn’t getting you anywhere.
And what about that book you’ve been thinking about writing?
The idea of writing a book has been swirling in the back of your mind for a while now—too long. But how in the world can you make time for writing a book, when you have all of this building going on, not to mention family, friends, and the quintessentially busy, modern life?
You think, “I’m too busy now. Maybe in 6 months, when this event is over.” Or, “Maybe in 12 months, when life feels more under control.”
But if you’re honest with yourself, you said the same thing 6 months ago and 12 months ago.
I don’t want you to judge yourself. It’s a perfectly normal part of the process to procrastinate on something that is huge and life-changing. There’s no guilt or shame here. Just honesty and a desire to learn from where we’ve been.
What could happen in your business, platform, and life when you do write your book and publish?
When you commit to your book, and start writing, you will feel the energy behind making a powerful decision. You’ve been procrastinating for long enough that once you actually begin, you’ll feel a sense of satisfaction and pride rising up in yourself. That’s a sign that good things are on the horizon.
When you are in the process of writing, you’ll gain intense clarity on your own vision for your business, platform, or life. Out of all of those ideas, swirling around in your mind, colliding into each other, causing confusion, you’ll start to see which ideas you care about most, distill them, and bring them together into one, cohesive book.
People always talk about narrowing down, niching down, and focusing on the one thing. But you’ve never felt like you could do that. Writing your book will give you clarity on your priorities and why you love what you do. Your book will provide the intense power of clarity that everyone else has been talking about, a power that will help you move forward in your business, platform, and life.
When you publish your book, you’ll feel, down to your core, that these words could actually change someone’s life. You’ll want to share your book with everyone you know. When you receive comments and reviews, your confidence that you’re on the right track will be bolstered.
And then, amazing, magical things will begin to happen. People will begin reading the book. They’ll come to know you, like you, and trust you. They’ll finish the book, find your email address, and ask how they can become your clients or support your work.
Your book will help you attract new clients, and you’ll find it possible to offer one-on-one coaching, group coaching, build out an online course, develop a new product or service that complements your book’s content. Suddenly, the business opportunities multiply, all because of your book.
You’ll have opportunities to be interviewed on podcasts, blogs, blab, TV, radio. All forms of media, new or traditional, love to talk to a published author. You’ll find doors opened to you that were previously closed.
As you talk more about your book, your business, and your platform, you’ll begin to make connections with your peers. People who once seemed so out of reach will become colleagues, people who are happy to feature you and collaborate with you.
You’ll begin to step out as a leader in your industry.
You’ve been called to make changes in the world, not to hide in the shadows. When you finally commit to writing and publishing your book—not in 6 months or 12 months, but starting now—that’s when you’ll begin to feel the shift.
For too long, you worried bout the risks, the potential losses, the vulnerability you might expose in your book. Now, when you step up into a higher place and actually write your book and publish, opportunity will rise to meet you, and your new life as an author can begin.