Either you don’t realize it, or somewhere deep down, you know it but simply refuse to admit it: the underlying reason behind all of your excuses for not having begun writing your book yet is that four-letter word called “fear.” Read on to understand how fear has stifled your dreams of becoming an author and what to do to give fear the boot this year!
Fear 5: I’ll be so disappointed with the outcome that I’ll never recover.
You’ve managed to get this far in life without having your self-image completely shattered into a million pieces. Now, by putting your book out there, you’re laying it all on the line. It’s such a big risk! I mean, you’ve work hard to believe in yourself and in your potential to be successful. You’ve ignored the odds stacked up against you and you’ve plowed ahead despite that internal voice that tells you that it’s all going to be one big flop.
Instead of believing the voice of doubt and fear, you choose to operate with hope and optimism. You trust the words of encouragement from your family and friends that tell you that anything you put your mind to and pursue with determination, you can do. It’s hard, but you believe them. You believe in you. The thing is, these beliefs are easier to sustain when there are no tangible outcomes or results present to affirm or dispel them. However, you’re about to complete a book and release it to the world. That’s a game changer.
Now, who you think you are and what you are capable of achieving will be put to the test. All at once, the questions come. What if the results of your book launch are dismal? Launching your book is one of your biggest dreams in life. If it goes sideways, will you be able to recover? Will it trigger a deep, dark depression in you that you’ve never experienced? Will the disappointment that you’ll potentially face forever change what you believe about yourself and what you’re capable of accomplishing?
You’ve been able to recover from other disappointments in life, but with a dream this big – and a public one at that – the risk of disappointment is even bigger. Can you handle it? The potential for the answer to be a “No” intimidates the heck out of you. As a result, you find excuse after excuse to not bring your book to completion.
Yes, they seem like good excuses at the moment. If you try hard enough, you can justify every single one of them and convince yourself that they are valid. However, at the end of the day, empty, meaningless, progress-paralyzing excuses are all they are. They’re a subconscious way of shielding yourself from experiencing the hurt and disappointment you could potentially face after your book launch. Yet, if you’re ever going to get your book completed and introduce it to the world, you’ve got to set them aside.
When addressing my clients’ myriad of progress-paralyzing fears, I like to play a game called “What’s the Worst that Could Happen?” It’s a game in which we imagine all of the potential outcomes of a project, starting with the best and going all the way down to the worst. One thing always happens at the end: the client realizes that the worst that could possibly happen isn’t really that bad at all.
For most, the worst case scenario usually ends with them experiencing feelings of embarrassment and disappointment, only to recover after a couple of weeks, because life goes on and so do they. From there, everything gets better. They take a close look at what happened, get some critical feedback about what they could have done differently in order to increase the success of their future outcomes, and the next time, they do things in a smarter way!
Therefore, don’t let this fear stop you from writing your book. You’re so much stronger and more resilient than you think! If you’re as good of a writer and marketer as you think you are, you’ll probably be surprised at how well your book does when you launch it (and if not, get some professional help!). In fact, my clients are often REALLY surprised by how well their books perform in the marketplace! If not, the worst that could happen is that you become the recipient of a brand new learning opportunity, which you can leverage in order to achieve stellar results on your next project!
(Interested in reading more? Check out the next post in this blog series!)
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Shannon Williams, Ph.D., is the Founder and Chief Executive Nerd of Geniuscribes, Nerds with Pens. For more than a decade, she has helped doctoral students complete their dissertations and aspiring writers complete their books. She is a nerdy, fun-loving, dog-obsessed foodie who loves Jesus, unpretentious people, sunshine, and coffee. She is a die-hard Houstonian and Texas Longhorn living in Atlanta, where Chick-Fil-A sells collard greens and macaroni, and the tea is as sweet as the people, much to her delight. You can reach her through her team at support@geniuscribes.com if you like. Or not. Whatever butters your biscuit! Oh yeah… she loves those, too.