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How many times have we told this lie to others?
We promise something is on the very near horizon, but never get it done. Never ship.
Getting closer to what I promised years ago was soon to come.
Day by day.
Dear readers, there is no turning back now.
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In the past five years (which is a decent, reasonable time frame), what have we done to move forward?
The first book should be done by the time this Mid Life Celebration post goes live.
Can we sign a contract and 100 days later show up for sale on Amazon as well as Barnes and Noble?
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Two compelling book titles in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport a few months ago. We can surmise that being great (left book) is done on purpose, and being bad (stinky, right book) is done by not being on purpose. This is the Midlife Movement and the Midlife Herd in a weird analogy. The truth (in these book titles) is rather harsh, isn’t it. So is midlife.
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Three years ago, I took a first try at writing a book. It lasted one day. Know what happened next? Nothing? Nothing happened. Well, I took a second try a year and a half later with a blog post entitled “One Push Up”.
Daily writing began in earnest a year ago. So literally, prior to that, I was writing one post per year. Ya with me.
Here’s the very first “blog post” I ever wrote, three years ago. Maybe reading this will give you hope to not give up on your dream.
EVERYTHING’S IMPORTANT
(April 02, 2007)
How many books and articles have been written, over time, about what’s really important in life? In business? In leadership? In raising children? In becoming successful? In learning to prioritize your life? In achieving financial freedom? In becoming the best you, you can be? The answer, we all know. It’s thousands and thousands. This begs a profound question. What are they all trying to say? Really?
Two of the most magnificent days in your life are the day you were born, and, the day you figure out why!
Have you figured it out yet? If you’re like me, and the rest of your human brothers and sisters, the obvious answer is no! Most of us, simply because we’re human, will go to our graves not knowing . How tragic is that? It’s criminal, eh?
How then, is it possible to travel for decades on this glorious planet, and never figure this out? This too is a no-brainer. It’s because, “EVERYTHING’S IMPORTANT”!
What do you mean, Jeff? Think about it. We have all had bosses, or maybe we were the boss, and, it’s one fire-drill after another. Everything’s important, right. It gets so confusing that we finally just cave in and say, “OK, everything’s important”. It’s that seemingly insignificant moment that you doom yourself to a life of mediocrity. Really!
It’s like the story of the frog in a pan of room temperature water, sitting on the stove. A group of teenagers slowly turn up the heat to see what the frog will do. We all know how this plays out. The frog never notices the slowly changing water temperature and dies as the water finally reaches the boiling point.
How is this possible? It’s possible because you and I are weak. We are conditioned to accept mediocrity. We are shown images of greatness in the media. Constantly. No one ever talks about the serious, but do-able, effort required to be excellent. And so it goes. We give up, It’s perfectly acceptable to give up. Everyone does it. Why should you be any different? Because!
Because if you don’t try harder, you will never know the difference between joy, liberation and inner peace, compared to the alternative – a life sentence in your unfulfilled journey. Is this your legacy? The legacy you want your children to see and model? Go to jail, go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200 dollars.
Right now you should be feeling some pain. Emotional, psychological pain. This is a very good sign this book is for you.
It has taking years, no, decades, to discern the truth. You’ve probably heard it said: “Wisdom comes from experience, and experience comes from making mistakes”. The truth is here at your fingertips. In these pages. You can do what you want at this point. The choice is yours (there’s a BFO)!
I know of no other person who’s invested more time and emotional labor to simplify life’s truths. They say, “to teach is to learn twice”. Your journey is like mine. We are born. We grow and learn. Somewhere on your path, is your answer to your question, “Why am I here”?
Are you ready?
Pause!
Yes, pause and think.
This will make you feel uncomfortable, no doubt. You should get used to this feeling, so that, in time, you will welcome your pain that comes when you slow down, and look inside yourself. You will discover, there is no other way.
If you think about why you are reading this book, then your answer to continue or not will be automatic. Yes!
Please turn the page when you are ready.
Ever heard the phrase, “Don’t die with a book in you”?
Have you ever dreamt of writing a book?
It’s way more work than people think. And yet, it’s way less work than people think. A paradox that only someone who’s done it can know.
Found a LinkedIn connection, Susan Harrow, who blogs about these types of things too. Wanted to share her perspective with you.
Click here to read Susan Harrow’s article, “Write a Book Fast and Earn Big Money in the Process”. It’s a bit on the salesy-side, but offers a perspective different from mine.
PS. Do you still remember the important message from the top?
(Don’t die with a book in you)
One more thing, if you’ve never written a book before, and think you can in 90 days and make a ton of money, God Bless you. Odds are, you will never get started, and if you do get started, you’ll never finish.
This is simply the way life works. If you disagree with this, please feel free to send a copy of your first book by May 1, 2010, and then I’ll confess to being a liar. Deal?