Fear Of Success

Turn Your Beat Into A Book (summary: publishers)

Garth Beyer

I attended a conference that hosted a panel of writers and publishers. Happy to share what I took from the publishers panel with you.

  • Writers are not looking to get published to make money.
  • Publishers care about taking time to make sure everything is right in the publishing process. BUT, they are ignorant in their use of others’ time. (Certainly not all publishers, but definitely the ones on the panel.)
  • Stated by a publisher’s rep, “Writer’s quit too early. It’s fear of success.”
  • Bad movies and books are out there because writers didn’t give up.
  • Most money comes from speaking engagements.
  • You have to push the book. You’re the marketer.
  • Having articles criticized is one thing. Having your book criticized is another.

After the conference, I am even more sure that self-publishing is the way to go.

Oh, and start marketing now.

How You Know That You Are Doing What You Need To

Garth Beyer

If this is at all confusing, it’s because you have a difficult time accepting it. The same went for me at first.

***

When there are things that you would rather be doing or that you just want to do, perhaps going to the art museum, hanging around the park more often, or reading more, you know that you have to keep doing what you’re doing.

That craving – when you are actually busy – to do other things (and sometimes even to do nothing) means you’re on the right track and that you need to keep going.

Our minds direct our attention towards things that we would rather be doing because what we are doing is hard work. Our brain wants to distract us, wants to pull our attention toward something more entertaining (and less productive). Often referred to as the lizard brain, this subconscious mental effort for distraction is a cloak of fear. The more we get on the path of productivity, reaching our goals, putting in emotional labor, and putting ourselves and our art out there, the more fear sets in and the lizard brain starts working in every way possible.

The most popular way clearly being the desire to do something more fun than what you are currently doing.

When really, if what you have to be focusing on now didn’t exist, you wouldn’t really be doing what you think you would rather be doing now. You’d be doing nothing.

 

Stay Positive & Outsmart Your Brain. Push Through

Garth E. Beyer

The Finish Line

Garth Beyer

What I love about runners, racecar drivers, swimmers, and any racer in general is that when they reach the finish line, they don’t stop. They zoom through it and then start to slow down.

Taking a finish line literally, it means you finish at the line, as in, you stop on the line. Why go past it if it’s the finish line? Taking it literally would mean that you need to slow down before you get to the finish line so you can stop on it.

In reality, that’s actually what a lot of people do. The closer they get to their goal, the slower they get. They want their step on the finish line to be perfect. Plenty of times over, the fear of success, the fear of it not being perfect, stops them from making it to the finish line. Once near it, they take a couple of steps back just to make sure they are doing everything right.

Don’t.

Find out where the finish line is drawn and run past it.

You don’t need to be a racer to live the concept of a finish line. Have a goal? Blow past it, slow down, and then evaluate. You will learn, adapt, and grow much quicker than if you stop before you finish just to evaluate something you havn’t completed.

 

Stay Positive & Let’s Race To Our Goals This Year (and by to, I mean past)

Garth E. Beyer