By BookBaby author Ally Nathaniel
Writing a book will never amount to an emergency — that’s why you need to make a conscious decision to put it on top of your list. Is your book a priority for you?
Have you noticed how most people go through life and operate in this world? They put fires out.
People let emergencies dictate their day, their week, their year, and ultimately, their lives. They want to write a book, start a business, or travel around the world with their family, but then get caught up in emergencies. They get engaged in urgencies and then, one day, they wake up and realize life is almost over. They realize the book they wanted to write is just another dream on the bottom of the “long-lost dreams pile.”
Yes, it’s hard to think about that scenario, not to mention living it, but this is what happens when you put fires out instead of making your dreams a priority.
It doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to wake up one day in the future and realize your dream of writing a book is still just a dream. It doesn’t have to happen because you have the power to create your own future. If you want to avoid that moment, you need to start thinking and working toward getting your book done. Today.
Many people contact me and tell me writing a book is “very important” to them. This sounds very promising, but when the rubber meets the road and it comes to making something happen and invest in themselves, they back off. You see, most people get stuck at some point because desires and actions are two different things. Taking action can be anything from blocking time in your calendar to finding an accountability partner or hiring a writing coach. It means investing time and money in yourself, and that’s not always easy.
More than that, writing a book can be scary. Writing a book will force you to deal with your demons, and most people spend a lifetime trying to avoid that. Writing a book will bring up all the self-doubt, insecurities, and fear you hold inside and it will make you feel as if getting it done is a huge mistake. It might even feel like a suicide mission because speaking your truth can be as scary as hell.
The thing is, the universe has its own way of trying to protect you from making mistakes and getting hurt, so it activates fear and doubt. It has good intentions, but sometimes, listening to those voices will make you miss the point. The universe tries to keep you in your “safe-zone” so people don’t criticize you and you don’t get hurt. Because writing a book is all about playing big, speaking your truth, and helping others — and because it’s about connecting to your soul-mission on this planet and leaving a legacy — you will run into roadblocks.
Unfortunately, when you believe the self-doubt, insecurities, and fear, you will never be able to finish writing your book. It’s simply too scary. And that’s why people who say “writing a book is very important to me” often never get it done.
It is a well-known fact that highly successful people choose to focus attention on the things that are important to them rather than dealing with emergencies and putting out fires. They make their goals and dreams a priority because they know that’s what will advance their career and/or life goals. They understand that the most important goals a person could have, such as writing a book, will never be an urgent matter and therefore they choose to make it a priority.
It’s true: writing a book is never an emergency. You will not starve or die if you don’t write a book, and that’s why it makes it hard to decide to invest in such a project. But there’s a price you pay for concentrating on putting out fires rather than things that are important to you, and you might wake up one day wondering where the time went and why you never made yourself and your dreams a priority.
These are the questions you need to ask yourself when the urge to write a book kicks in. There are no right or wrong answers, and it’s all about getting clear on your priorities.
On a scale from 1-10, where “1” is “NOT a priority” and “10” is “I am fully committed:”
- Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get this book published (invest time, money, etc.)?
- Is investing in yourself and your writing as important as fixing your water heater when it breaks or your roof when it leaks?
If the answers are under an 8, then writing a book is not a priority for you and chances are you will never get it done.
These questions will help you be honest with yourself and know where you stand. If writing a book is not a priority, then it’s time to turn your attention to other things that are truly important to you. If writing a book is a priority, then go ahead and do whatever it takes to get it done. Invest in yourself, invest in your dreams, and invest in your future.
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This BookBaby blog article Is Writing A Book A Real Priority For You? appeared first on and was stolen from BookBaby Blog .