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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Writers · The Daily Writer

0:04
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Rider.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: Each weekday, we bring you a short lesson that helps you live out the four practices of a great writer: creativity, consistency, courage, and connection.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: Here on the weekend edition, we take a deeper dive into those topics through conversations with notable writers, as well as teaching that helps us apply what we're learning and prepare for the week ahead.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: For more, you can visit us at dailywriterlife.com.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: So let me begin this episode by asking, how is your 2021 going so far?
0:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, the universe has a way I think of sometimes laughing in our faces just a little bit.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: We all ended 2020 with a feeling of great, 2020 is done.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: Let's turn a fresh page.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: And it took a grand total of one week for 2021 to start looking like a bad sequel to 2020, at least here in the US.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: But really that just reinforces what we're going to be talking about here on this episode.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Not politics, of course.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: I have no desire to get into politics or even talk about that.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: It's not really an interest of mine.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: But a lot of people have been upset about recent political and social events.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, here's the thing about all that stuff.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: You can't control what happens in the overall landscape of culture.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, my goodness, you can't even control 100% what happens in your own household.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: People are going to do what they're going to do and they're going to react in whatever way they're going to react in life.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: And it would be very easy for us to have only gotten one week into this new year and to think, wow, this year is going to totally be a dumpster fire.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: But here's the deal.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's just kind of get right to the heart of the matter.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter who the president is, who's in Congress, who your neighbors are, whether it's raining or shining, none of those things is going to determine whether your book gets written.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: The only thing that's going to determine whether your book gets written is you and your habits.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: And you can apply that reasoning to any project that you're working on, whether it's client work, a podcast, blog posts, articles, building a business, or doing anything else, really.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: In the first week of the year, everybody loves to talk about goals, but once a week or two passes, the reality of life kicks in, and the idea of a nice goal is not enough to carry us through the messiness of life.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: It's not enough to make that goal a reality.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: And that's where habits come in, and that's what we're going to talk about here on this episode.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the most influential books of the second half of the 20th century was Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: And the premise of the book was that you have to take personal responsibility for your success.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: And the seven habits he talked about in that book could help you become more effective if you practice them.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: So what I'm going to do on this episode is borrow that seven habits framework and apply it to writing.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Now, before I share the seven habits of highly effective writers, let me make a couple of observations and then we'll dive in.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: So here's observation.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Actually, there's only two of these.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: One is kind of long and one is super duper short.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: So let me dive into the long one first.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Observation number one, let's talk about what it means to be effective.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: What does that word actually even mean?
3:23
SPEAKER_00: So when I say the seven habits of an effective writer, how do you know if you're effective?
3:28
SPEAKER_00: What's our measuring rod for that?
3:31
SPEAKER_00: Well, I define effectiveness as doing the right things to achieve a predetermined purpose.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: So, what is our purpose as writers?
3:40
SPEAKER_00: Why are we doing all this writing stuff, anyways?
3:43
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's very, very simple.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: Now, I can't speak for you, but my purpose as a writer is to leave the world a better place than I found it.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: I want to bring hope, energy, goodness, inspiration, information, education, entertainment, and probably a few bad dad jokes in there as well.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, seriously, did you think I was going to leave that out?
4:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm a dad after all.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, it's all for the purpose of making a little dent in my corner of the universe and leaving this place a little bit better than I found it.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Here's my theory on life, and I think you can take this to the bank.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: I really do.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: So obviously, right now, you can see that I'm in Professor Sanders mode, which honestly is the mode that I like to be in most of the time.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Here's my overarching theory of life for whatever that's worth.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Your goal, your purpose as a writer is not just self-expression, is to live your life in such a way that the people around you are better off because they knew you and because they read your writing.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: This is why I resonate so much with the movie It's a Wonderful Life.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie of all time.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, actually, that's not entirely true.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, it rotates between three movies: The Godfather, Citizen Kane, and It's a Wonderful Life.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: There's a second tier that includes the Shawshank Redemption and uh The Dark Knight, but that's a whole nother ball of wax.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna say it's it usually rotates between those three in that top tier for me, but it really depends on what mood I'm in.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: But if you put a gun to my head and if you forced me to choose, I would have to say it's a wonderful life.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: And here's why.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: It's because that movie resonates on a profoundly deep level with what I feel life is all about.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: Life is all about leaving this place better than you found it.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: And I think that writing is a pretty darn good way to accomplish that because you can impact large numbers of people with it.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: But if you do coaching or you can help other writers, you can help them at a very deep and meaningful level.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: Because when you write a book, it forces you to confront all those things holding you back.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: It forces you to confront your doubt, your fear, your insecurity.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: And if you can overcome those and you can write a book, you can impact the world more deeply.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: So because I believe so strongly in the power of books and the power of reading, the best possible way that I can serve the world is to write my own stuff, but also make an even bigger impact because I'm helping other people write their stuff, which in turn impacts a lot more people than I could do on my own.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: So there you have it.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: This is why I do a podcast.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: This is why I have the daily writer community.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: This is why I do coaching for writers.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: This is why I do ghostwriting.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: Because I do all these things so that more people can have more books written.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: Because if I write a book for you, you're gonna impact people that I'll never touch and will never have heard of me.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: But if I only write my own stuff and I don't help other people, I can only impact a certain amount of people.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: But if I can help other writers write their books, that multiplies exponentially the impact that I can possibly have on the world.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a pretty darn cool thing.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's observation number one.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: When I talk about being an effective writer, that's what I'm talking about.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: Effectiveness means leaving the world a better place than you found it.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: And I think writing is one of the very best ways that you can possibly do that.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's observation number two, and this is very quick is that the seven habits that I'm going to share in this episode are a cycle.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: It's not a linear progression.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: It's a cycle of things that follow one another and they repeat.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's dive in.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: These are the seven habits of highly effective writers.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: Habit number one is read books that help you achieve your goals.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: We talk a lot about reading here on this podcast, and there's a good reason for that.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: It's because reading is the main way to get your input as a writer.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: Yes, movies are great, and I love those.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: TV shows are great.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Reading screenplays and comic books also rank pretty high on my list, honestly, but books are fundamentally different because books require sustained thinking and storytelling over a couple hundred pages or more.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: You just cannot get that depth in articles, movies, and so forth.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: Just like the basis of a good diet has to be things like vegetables, protein, hydration, and so forth.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: Books have to be the foundation of our mental and intellectual diet.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Now, a question you might be wondering is how do I know what books I should be reading?
8:24
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's kind of hard to give an answer for that question because everybody's needs are different.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: But there are two basic types of books that I tend to read: books that interest me and books that are going to help me with a current goal.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: For example, a big goal that I have right now is learning how to build a business and all the things that go into that.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: So I'm reading books on finance and productivity and so forth.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm also rereading Ryan Holiday's great book called Perennial Seller, which is all about creating work that lasts.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to put those principles into my next book, which is a parable about writing called Let It Flow.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: And that book will probably come out over the summer.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: At least that's what I'm planning on.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: One of my goals this year is also to lose weight and to get stronger and fitter.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: So I'm reading an older book by Bill Phillips called Body for Life.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: I heard Jerry Seinfeld recommend this book when he was on Tim Ferriss's podcast.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I think it was a month or two ago.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: And Jerry Seinfeld said that this book changed his life.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: So when someone that successful makes a comment like that, I pay attention and usually I just get the book.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: I got it on Amazon for a few bucks, I think.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you're interested in learning how to read more in less time, I'm going to point you to a September 1st, 2020 episode here on this podcast that I did called How to Read More in Less Time.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: And in that episode, I give you 10 tips for getting more reading done.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: But if I can offer just one tip right now, it's this take a book with you everywhere that you go.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: And I mean everywhere.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: Just pick it up and read when you have five or 10 minutes between meetings or between appointments, or if you're waiting for something, you will be amazed at how much reading you can get done this way.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: If the only change you make is picking up a book instead of picking up your phone, that alone will make a huge difference.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: Because I can't tell you how many times that I pick up my phone just to see what time it is or just to check something and 15 minutes go by.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: I've been on Facebook, I've been playing a game, I've been reading Drudge Report or some crazy website or whatever.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that happens to you as well.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: I want to put a little plug in here for our daily writer community because one of the things that we do each month is we have a book discussion.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: This month we're discussing Stephen King's classic book on writing.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: And a super great way to process what you read and to help you get motivated is to do it with other people.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: So I would be honored if you would check out our daily writer community and see if it's a good fit for you.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: You can check it out at dailywriterlife.com slash community.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: So habit number one is making time to read.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: And for me, that's where it all begins because we have to fill our creative well before we can draw water from it.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: Let's go on to habit number two, which is write something every day.
11:10
SPEAKER_00: Now you might think this is such an obvious thing that we don't need to mention it here.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: I mean, seriously, Kent, this is the Daily Writer Podcast.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: Why are you making this?
11:20
SPEAKER_00: Why are you saying that writing is a habit in your seven habits of effective writers?
11:24
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's because a lot of writers talk about writing, but don't actually get around to doing it.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: In fact, that is one of the big dangers in the writing community as a whole.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: We love to talk about books, we love to talk about articles, movies, content, and such, but talking about it doesn't actually get the writing done.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: We have to produce the words.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: There have been countless books and courses and conferences and other resources on how to write, when to write, writing routines and habits, and so forth.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: I don't have time to summarize all that stuff because it's just a mound of information and data.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: So, what I want to do is give you two simple comments about being more productive with your writing.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the first thing is that when it comes to getting your words written, you've got to decide what you're gonna write and then do it until it's done.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Now, I know that sounds really elementary and very simple, but and it's hard.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: That's just what it really comes down to.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: It's deciding what you're gonna write and then write it until you're done with it.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: For example, if you're writing a blog post that's 500 words, sit down and write it until it's done.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: If you're writing, on the other hand, a 40,000-word book, write 500 words a day for 80 days until you have a draft of that book done.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, you're gonna go through the revision process and so forth.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: But getting that first draft down is kind of like the magic first step.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: When you have that done, everything I think is is kind of downhill from there because getting that first draft done is usually the most difficult part.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: The problem that we sometimes face is that we make writing this big emotional thing that's so wrapped up with our insecurity, our self-esteem, our childhood dreams, and all that stuff.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: And that's totally fine.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: But realize that at the end of the day, writing is a very blue-collar job.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: You have to sit your behind in the seat and just get it done.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: And that's really what it comes down to.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: And you're welcome to bring whatever emotional baggage you want to the writing process, but I recommend looking at writing the exact same way that a carpenter looks at building a house.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: You decide what you're going to build, you gather your materials, and then you get to work until you're done, and that's pretty much it.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: Now, the second thing I want to mention here in relationship to writing every day is I want to recommend that you try to dictate more of your writing.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: In the week between Christmas and New Year's, so just a couple weeks ago, actually, it was just four of those days.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even use the whole week to do this.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: I wrote a 20,000-word draft of my next book.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not saying you should do it that way.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh, in fact, it kind of wore me out those four days, and I was like mentally fried at the end of it.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to hear the story behind that, you can listen to the episode that I put out on January the 1st about my goals for the year.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: I go into detail about the book.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: And I dictated about half of that book, the second half of it, because it's way faster than typing, at least it is for me.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: So I recommend that if you struggle to get the words done with typing, do a draft of your next blog post your book chapter by dictating in it.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: It's really very simple.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: What I do is on my phone, I uh I use the Scrivener app on my MacBook Pro, and I have an iPhone, so the Scrivener app on iPhone and Mac, they sync perfectly.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: It's like a seamless syncing, it works really, really well.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: But you could use uh Evernote, you could just use the Notes app on your phone, it doesn't make any difference.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean, smartphones are so intuitive, and if you take just a little bit of time to learn the grammar and the kind of the techniques of dictation for your phone, uh it's actually very, very effective.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: So I highly recommend that you give it a shot if you've never done it before.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: You will be amazed at how fast you can get something drafted if you dictate it.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like magic.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: So that's the second habit of a highly effective writer, which is simply to write something every day.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: Let's move on to habit number three, which is publish your work.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: So once you have written something, you've got to publish it.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not talking about publishing your personal journal or your diary, of course.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: I just mean that when you create something for consumption, you need to put it out there for people to actually consume.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: So let me speak to two kinds of struggles that people have that keep them from publishing.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you can relate to one or both of these.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: Struggle number one is being a perfectionist.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: If you're a perfectionist, that means you're always worried about what other people think.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: And actually, uh, not to be negative, I guess, but I'm just, you know, my commitment on this podcast is to always be honest with you.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm not here to try and look cool or be everybody's best pal.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm here to tell you the truth and to help you.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: And because I I care about you, even though I may not know you personally, because I care about you and I want the best for you, I'm committed to telling you the truth.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is that if you're a perfectionist, that's a very narcissistic perspective.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: That's a very self-centered way of living your life.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry to break it to you, but that's just what the truth is.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: Perfectionists believe that their standards are higher than everybody else's.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: So it's not only narcissistic, it's also kind of arrogant when you think about it.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: Perfectionists are more concerned about their own image than they are about helping other people.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: So again, it's a selfish way to live because your perfectionism keeps you from releasing your work out into the world.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: So here's the solution.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm talking to you as a recovering perfectionist.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, my goodness, if if there was ever a perfectionist in the world, that's me.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: And I still wrestle with it.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: And I still struggle with it.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: So know that you're not alone, and I'm I'm talking to you as a fellow recovering perfectionist.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I found that has been helpful for me.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: I assume that my 90% is everybody else's 100%.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: And I think if you're a perfectionist, if you have really, really high standards for your writing and for other things, I think that's true.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: When you put out something that you would assign a B grade to, everybody else probably looks at it as a level.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: So get your work up to a B level, then publish it, whether that's on a website, social media, book, or whatever it is, and then just move on to the next thing.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: So that's the first struggle is being a perfectionist.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: The second struggle that keeps people from publishing their work is simply following through and doing it.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: Some people love to write and they're not perfectionists, but they don't take that final step in publishing.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: They don't pull the trigger and take the steps necessary to allow people to read and to access their work.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: For example, maybe you've got 25 blog posts sitting there on your computer, but you haven't published them.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've written part of a book, but you didn't finish and publish it.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've never finished setting up your website or your LinkedIn profile or whatever it is.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you had a great idea and you never followed through with it.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: So whatever that next step is for you, please take it.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: As Larry the Cable Guy says, get her done.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot, you know, Larry the Cable Guy is not known for his you know depth of wisdom, but that's pretty wise.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: Just just do it.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: Just get the sucker done.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: If you need a website, find somebody who can help you.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: If it's getting a book cover designed, find somebody who can help you.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: Or just ask me.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: I know a ton of designers.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I know one particular one that I use all the time.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: She's awesome.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: If it's starting a podcast, figure out the next step and then take those steps.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: So much of our success in writing is not about our talent or our skill or our awesomeness.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: It's just about following through.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: It's just about getting it actually done.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: You know, those people who are listed on the New York Times bestseller list are not always the most talented writers.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean, certainly they have most of the time they have great books and all that.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't mean that they are the ones that are necessarily the best writers.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: It just means that they are the ones who followed through.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: They wrote the books, they have the systems to help create those bestsellers and they've done the work to build up an audience and so forth.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: You could be more successful also.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: I can be more successful also, but it does involve following through and publishing our writing.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: So these first three habits relate to reading, writing, and publishing.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: And now we go to habit number four, which is to market your work.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: Marketing is a huge topic, even if we narrow it down to just marketing for authors.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: So what is marketing anyway?
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Well, it depends on who you talk to, but basically, marketing means that we're telling people about something that excites us.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: Here's how I look at marketing my own stuff.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: If I'm making something that I think you'll like or that I think will help you, I will be genuinely excited to tell you about it, right?
20:18
SPEAKER_00: So the first step I think in marketing is to make something that you think other people will like or that you think is going to help them.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: So when we do that, when we're excited about what we're making, to me, that has kind of a built-in marketing component within it already.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're writing a book that you hate and that you wouldn't read yourself, you're not going to be excited to market it.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: So to me, the first step is make something that you personally love and you can't wait to tell other people about so that you're going to naturally be geared to marketing it.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: Now, in terms of like systems and understanding all the complexities of social media marketing and all the depths of Amazon uh algorithms and all that stuff, um, I confess that's something that I feel pretty weak in.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't feel I do a good job marketing my own stuff.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about my own stuff.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: I love talking with people, I love making stuff, but sometimes I get overwhelmed by social media and I don't consider myself a very good salesperson.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm just being honest with you.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: I know there's a lot, lot more I could be doing to market my own stuff.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing better constantly, and this podcast is certainly a big part of that, but I struggle with marketing, uh, at least in terms of knowing kind of what all the systems are for, you know, maximizing my effectiveness and all that stuff.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: But when it comes down to it, at the end of the day, we do have to tell people about our stuff.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: That is something that a lot of writers struggle with, including me.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: I have to I do have to tell you though, that the number one thing I've ever done as far as marketing is to start a podcast.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: Nothing else even comes close to the effectiveness that I've had with starting a podcast.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: And there's a couple of reasons that I say that.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: The first one is that a podcast is something that people can listen to as opposed to just read.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, listening is more intimate and it's more conversational than reading.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: If I if I choose, if I have to choose between somebody listening to me and somebody reading a book that I've written, I will always choose listening because people feel like they know me whenever they listen to me.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: You're listening to this right now.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: You can hear the tone in my voice.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: You can hear my emotion when I get excited.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: And that creates more of a connection with you than if you're just reading something that I've written.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: At least that's my opinion.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: I think that's true for most people on both sides.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh, people creating the content as well as people listening to it.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a more emotional process.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Now, the second reason is that with the podcast, you can invite guests on your show, which is really cool.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: It's a very powerful way to build relationships.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to go super deep into podcasting stuff right now on this episode, but instead I want to point you to uh a couple great things here.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: One is two great books by um women that I really, really respect uh in terms of their marketing abilities and their writing prowess and all that cool stuff.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: So the first book is by Honoree Corter, and her book is called You Must Write a Book.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: She gives you a whole system for writing and marketing your book.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: The second book is by Joanna Penn, and it's called How to Market Your Book.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: Make sure and get the latest edition of the book.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: I think it's up to the third edition now.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: And if you want some insights into podcasting, I recommend going back and listening to my episode from last September 24th.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: And that episode is called 20 Podcast Lessons from 200 Episodes.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: In that episode, I just talk about things that I've learned about podcasting.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: So if you're interested in starting your own podcast, go back and listen to that episode.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: And I think that will really help you.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: So we've talked about reading, writing, publishing, and marketing, but what could possibly come next after that?
23:59
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that where it ends?
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Nope, we have three more habits of highly effective writers.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: So let's dive into these final three here.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: Habit number five is help other writers.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: Now, what do I mean by help?
24:15
SPEAKER_00: What I mean is that our service to the world as a writer doesn't end with our own writing.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: We're part of a broader creative community.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: We are part of the world of writers, which means that we need to help and we need to contribute.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: So this habit is all about helping and serving other writers.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: This means that we promote other people's books on our podcast, our newsletter, our blog posts, and social media.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: It means that we leave reviews and comments.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: It means that we share their work.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: But it also means that we help other people who are coming up behind us.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: For example, just a couple days ago, I had a Zoom call with an aspiring writer who just graduated from college.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: She wants to get into editing.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: So we had a call where we talked about her goals and her experience, and I introduced her to a friend of mine who's a really great editor.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: Now, why did I do that?
25:04
SPEAKER_00: Why did I take 30 minutes out of my day to spend time with someone who is far less experienced than I am in this whole writing realm?
25:13
SPEAKER_00: What could I possibly gain from that?
25:15
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is I don't know what I can gain, but I do know that it's my responsibility as a writer, as a person who appreciates generosity.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: I feel it's my responsibility to help other people when I can.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: It's fun, it's enjoyable.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: And I just think when you put out good into the world, it comes back to you.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: I've talked to lots and lots and lots of highly successful people who keep saying that same thing.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: They talk about being generous and being giving and helping other people, and it does come back to you in sometimes very strange and unexpected ways.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: So I just think it's the right thing to do, and I enjoy helping people.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: I hope that you do too.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: I really do.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: So think about the people in your life.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Who are some people in your circle who may want to become writers?
26:03
SPEAKER_00: Is there somebody that you can help get started?
26:06
SPEAKER_00: So I believe this is a key part of our success as writers.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't begin and end with us.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: It might begin with us, but it does not end with us.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: It ends with helping and serving other people.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: I also want to recommend that you check out my episode from last September the 8th.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: It was an episode called The Introvert's Guide to Networking.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: In that episode, I share some tips that have really helped me to build relationships over the last few years.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: So if that's something that you want to work on, check out that episode.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: I think you'll really enjoy it.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Let's go on to these final two habits.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: Habit number six is to thank those who helped you.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: And this habit is all about developing a regular gratitude practice.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: It's all about looking around at the blessings we have in life and saying thank you.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: First of all, saying thank you to God for the blessings He's given us, but it's also saying thank you to the people who have helped us.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: One of the most common traits you'll find among highly successful people, in addition to what I talked about a second ago with giving and generosity, is that they find the time to be grateful every day.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: They don't take anything for granted, and they realize that every single day is a gift because it truly is.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it could all be gone tomorrow.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: We don't have a guarantee of anything, do we?
27:24
SPEAKER_00: And because we don't have that guarantee, it's important that every day we're saying thanks.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you some specifics about a couple of things related to this.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: One thing that I have found very helpful is to have some space in my journal to simply say thanks.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: I have a practice of just writing down three things that I'm thankful for on a daily basis.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: And it's really just that simple.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: It it takes maybe 20 seconds, maybe 30, if I really have to think about it.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: This is not something that is like a big and long process.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: It's very, very short and simple.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: But I find that that moment that you know 20 or 30 seconds of just thinking about those things, it really brings a much greater awareness in my mind of how blessed I am as a person.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Even if I'm having a bad day, there's so many things to be grateful for.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Now, I used to keep a little separate gratitude journal, like a little tiny three by five journal or something, but then I just started incorporating that into my daily journaling a while back, and it was a lot simpler.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: Now, what about writing thank you notes?
28:26
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about thank you notes for just a moment here because this is an important topic.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people struggle with writing thank you notes because let's face it, you have to go through several steps to send a handwritten thank you note in the mail.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: You have to get the person's address, you have to find some stationery, you have to have some stamps handy.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I do to keep this process very, very simple.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: On my desk in my home office, I have a little wooden box sitting underneath my computer monitor.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: And that box contains blank note cards and envelopes as well as stamps.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: So I never have to worry about finding all this stuff because it's literally right there.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, as I'm recording this, I literally don't have to move it all.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: It is within my arm's reach.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: Which makes a huge difference because if you want to write thank you notes and you have the barrier of you got to hunt down stationary and stamps and all that jazz, then you're probably not gonna do it.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: So I keep it all handy right there.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: I actually ordered some uh little note cards specifically for writers uh from Amazon recently, and they weren't that expensive.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh you can just search, you know, stationary for writers or stuff like that.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: You can get something that kind of suits your own style.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: But I found that just keeping a stash of that here in my office handy really, really helped a lot with that habit of sending thank you notes.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's what else I do.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: Whenever I do a podcast interview, the last thing that I do before ending the call is I ask for their person's mailing address.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: And the way that I phrase it so it doesn't sound weird is I just say, hey, by the way, what's your mailing address?
30:01
SPEAKER_00: I got a little something that I want to send you.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: Because it sounds weird to say, hey, give me your address, I want to send you a thank you note.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: That kind of ruins it somehow.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, but if you just say, hey, what's your address?
30:13
SPEAKER_00: You know, that just that just sounds kind of strange, also, just randomly asking for someone's address.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: So that's the way I phrase it.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: And you can feel free to borrow that if you want to.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: I just say, hey, what's your mailing mailing address?
30:25
SPEAKER_00: I've got a little something I want to send you.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: And that kind of creates the expectation that something's coming, but not like a big expectation.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: So they're not expecting some massive box from Amazon or something.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: So that's that's how I do it.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: And then when the person gives me their mailing address, I keep that in my contact list so I can use it for the future if I want to send a note to them again.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: So this practice of thanking other people is it's important, but it's also very easy to neglect because nobody's going to be looking over your shoulder and reminding you that you have to do it.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: But if you have a couple of simple habits like I've just described, you've taken away that friction and you've made it very easy to follow through on sending thank you notes, having gratitude in your life, and so forth.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now we come to the final habit.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: So far, we've talked about reading, writing, publishing, marketing, helping, and thanking.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: And the final habit we want to talk here about today is habit number seven, persist through the hard times.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: It is inevitable that sometimes you will get hung up and you're gonna get just plain old stuck.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: And those are the moments when you have to be stubborn and just persist.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: In those moments, it's not about talent, it's not about connections, it's not about marketing, it's not about systems and productivity.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: It's really about just having the mindset to persist through the frustrations, through the setbacks, and you're figuring out what your next steps are.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: This is an area where at times I have had a lot of trouble.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be honest with you.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: In fact, let me just be really transparent.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: This is where I got stuck with my last book, and it's exactly why I wrote a draft of the Let It Flow book so fast a couple weeks ago.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: So here's what happened.
32:09
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you the backstory of this.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure I've ever told this story before.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: My last book, The Artist Suitcase, came out in 2015.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: So six years ago, it'll be six years this coming summer.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: I immediately knew what I wanted my next book to be about.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to write a book called Born to Create that would be a parable about the five keys to creativity.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: I had an outline, I had very clear ideas, and I actually even published a blog post a few years ago about the next book, and I made a big announcement about it and all that, and here's what my next book is about, blah, blah, blah.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: Well, the problem was that I was really intimidated by the idea of writing a story.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: I could write a nonfiction book, no problem, but I was I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to write a compelling story that made sense and had a proper character arc and all that stuff.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: So, in my true analytical nature, I went and I bought a bunch of story structure books and I started to learn about storytelling and story structure.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: And the more that I learned, the more confused I got and the more stuck that I got.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: In fact, there is an interesting book called The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller, written by a guy named John Truby, T-R-U-B-Y.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: It's a great book.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: However, I spent months going through that book, completing all the exercises for the characters and so forth.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: And by the time I got done making notes and figuring out ideas for scenes and just kind of putting in research into my notes, figuring out character sketches and their backstories and all this stuff, I literally had about 150 pages worth of notes for this Born to Create book.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: And I was completely and utterly stuck.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: I felt like I was I was uh up to my neck in quicksand.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: So what did I do?
34:06
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm gonna be honest with you, I basically just gave up.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: In 2017, four years ago, when I started this podcast, it was called Born to Create.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: And the book would have been a perfect compliment to the podcast.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: But now I've changed the podcast to the Daily Writer, and the Born to Create idea, I think it was good for the time and it had tons of awesome potential.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: But for me, it's kind of run its course, uh, at least in my mind.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: I've taken some ideas from that book and I'm using them in my next book, Let It Flow, as well as probably a future book on creativity.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: So this really gives you some context about why this parable type of a book has been dogging me for about five years.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: I know that sounds crazy, but it was important to me to get a draft done before the end of the year just to give it a huge, massive punch in the face.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: I have felt intimidated by this project for a long time, and I wasn't gonna stand for it anymore.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: Plus, I'm trying to live out what I'm teaching here, so I've decided to persist and to keep going, even when I'm not sure how something is gonna turn out, or I don't totally feel like I know what I'm doing.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: But what I do know is that I'm on the right path and that I will learn as I go.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: And the same is true for you.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: We just have to persist.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: We just have to keep going.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna feel comfortable.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we're gonna feel like a total fraud, we're gonna feel like an imposter.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
35:30
SPEAKER_00: That's how we all feel sometimes.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: That that's the definition of growth, I think, is you're growing beyond where you're comfortable.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what it means to get outside of our comfort zone.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: So, that, my friend, is the seven habits of a highly effective writer.
35:46
SPEAKER_00: So, just to review these, they are reading, writing, publishing, marketing, helping, thanking, and persisting.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mentioned this again here before I sign off.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: One of the very best ways to build your success as a writer and to put these habits into practice is by being part of a strong writing community.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what the Daily Writer community is.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: It's a small group of positive go-getters who are making things happen.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: So if this sounds like something you'd be interested in, you can check out my episode from January the 3rd where I go where I go through all the details, or you can also just go to dailywriterlife.com slash community, and there's all the details there as well.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks so much for listening, and I will see you tomorrow.