How can your success stop you from writing your book?

Are you an expert in your industry? If you have a dream of writing a book, being the “go-to person” for friends and colleagues can hinder your progress. As a mindset specialist in the self publishing world, I have found that experts often struggle in this journey. They battle with reconciling their level of experience in their field with their lack of knowledge in the “How to write a book” arena.

As an executive or expert who wants to translate your wisdom into a book, you may have to navigate the following.

• Your Fear
• Your Feelings
• Your Thoughts

While you may know that fear can inhibit your progress, many people don’t know how to identify what their personal brand of fear looks like. There are many often subconscious feelings that cause internal conflicts and struggles. Unless you master these three things, they will become like daggers stabbing at the dreams planted in your mind and heart. 

Sometimes you may have an idea or an outline for your book. But it is all sitting in your mind and the stress of not taking action only adds to that fear. These thoughts can cause a chain reaction that plays over and over.  

High-level executives may worry about their reputation as they consider writing a book. They imagine that if their book is bad, it will tarnish people’s high opinion of them in their field. One thing that the global pandemic taught us is that nothing is certain. The fear of losing a job or contract can thrust a range of thoughts into our conscious mind that play on our worst fears. 

Yet, it is that very fear that should propel you to take action, because there may come a time when you can no longer do so. That time comes when you have put off taking so long, that choosing your own pace is no longer an option. Yet the average person would prefer to let their dreams stay in limbo than to break the status quo. Your brain equates safety with “sameness.” It tells you that just staying the way you are is the safest thing to do. And our brains find reasons to maintain this state. It is the same thinking that keeps people in abusive relationships. Don’t break the status quo, don’t rock the boat and don’t try something new like writing a book.

This is when all the “WHAT IFS” start emerging.

• What if I deliver a book that does not meet standards that people have come to accept in my career?
• What if I don’t have the time to invest in completing this project?
• What if I lose my high-paying job because I’m focusing on a book that may just be a pipe dream?
• What if no one buys the book?
• What if I make a loss on the book?

You may be an attorney, a CFO, a sales guru, a voice coach. No matter what field you are in, if you have achieved success, your level of excellence can stop you from taking action. 

Your logical brain will always find a way of justifying your lack of activity.

• I have no time
• I am planning a big event
• I am going overseas
• I am working on a big deal.
• I am hoping to get a promotion
• I have to pay for my child’s sports trip
• I have a crisis in my business that needs my undivided attention

The reality is that the only way to silence all these voices is to take action. This may mean talking to a mentor or a coach to help you process all the chatter inside your head. A coach can help you get a reality check. Only action can help you get those rambling thoughts to serve you instead of hinder you. But that action does not steal time away from your other commitments. Small regular actions taken on a daily basis can make all the difference.

You did not get to be the expert you are in your chosen field by not taking action. You worked hard and over a person of time; you mastered a skill set.

Writing a book is much the same. Create a plan and take the first step. The perseverance and discipline that you used to excel in your field are the same qualities that will help you translate your skill set into a book that has the power to transform the hearts and minds of readers around the world.