Dreams. We all have them… but how many of us are living them?
My clients dream of writing and publishing a book. Seems like an easy task to do, right? Sit, write, publish. Wash, rinse, repeat. However, the desire of writing means nothing if they’re not willing to actually sit down and write. Most of the time they want to, but there’s always the same problem to overcome: finding time to write a book.
If you’re not careful, finding the time to write your book – and publish it – will be one of your biggest challenges also.
Finding Time to Write Your Book is Mandatory
I read an article in which a published author told readers that if they wanted to experience the joy of publishing a book, they’d have to make time to get the book done, even if it meant waking up an hour earlier before they prepared for work. If they couldn’t find time during the wee hours of the morning, then they’d have to consider sacrificing their lunch breaks. Finally, if they couldn’t do that, they’d have to look into investing their evening hours to get some writing done.
Despite how simple and actionable the information was, one response appeared to have an excuse against every possible suggestion given.
“This is a great article,” the commenter wrote. “Still, it’s hard to write if you have a full-time job.” She commented that she already has to get up at six in the morning, that she’s too tired to bother staring at her screen at lunch (“I’m trying to just get out of the office”), that she doesn’t want to come home and stare at a screen after staring at one for the past eight hours anyway. She stated she was so drained she wanted to cry at the idea of writing a book at the end of the day, and doesn’t know how she could get refreshed and ready to work on a book after working all day at a job that “doesn’t suck life out of you.”
Reading the article, I realized that she just wasn’t ready to write a book.
Was she tired, drained and going through it? Yes. Hell yes, it sure seemed like she was. Her drained energy flowed off the screen and threatened to enter my aura. (I rebuked it.)
However, she just did not seem motivated to actually get the book done. She was simply content with the idea of holding on to the dream of coming around to it someday. I’d venture to say, even if this commenter changed her job, or cut back on her work schedule, she still wouldn’t have time to write. She’d probably still bury her potential under excuses to push away from the discipline required to get started.
So again, I left it alone and didn’t comment. The message she left was clear:
She’s not going to do a damned thing until she’s ready.
And neither are you.
Writing and Publishing a Book: You’ll Either Will or You Won’t.
If you want something bad enough, you’ll figure out a way to make it happen. When you wanted those delicious Louboutins with the cherry red bottom and “fuck me” stilletto heels, you got them. They might have been way out of your budget and cost you all your lunch (and even bill money) for about a month, but you figured out how to prioritize them.
Finding time to write a book requires you to stop telling everyone – especially yourself – all the reasons why you can’t and start demonstrating all the reasons you can. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, the same 168 hours in a week. Nobody is given any promo code to get extra hours for free on the low. The difference between living your dreams and living in your dreams is the action you put forth to make it happen and get shit done – even if you hire a book coach to help you work through your challenges while writing your book.