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Take Responsibility for Your Success · The Daily Writer

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, welcome to The Daily Writer, where we help writers become authors of their own lives.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as you know, I try to keep things positive around these here parts, but today I want to come to you feeling honestly a little frustrated with authors who spread negativity online.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Over the past few months, I've seen a lot of social media posts to this effect, and I'm paraphrasing here, but I've seen a lot of posts that express these kinds of sentiments, such as, nobody's reading books anymore, why even bother?
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or I set up a book signing and nobody came, so I'm just throwing in the towel on my writing career.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or I can't find a publisher or an agent who's interested in my book.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna quit.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Or some version of independent publishing is just too much work.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the running theme in these kinds of posts and lots of other posts that I've seen is that these authors feel hamstrung or trapped by other people.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, they have outsourced their success to other people's decisions.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very rare that I see a post like this.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an author and I've hit some bumps in the road.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: What can I do to figure out where things went sideways so I can be more successful?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I mention that because we all face obstacles and frustrations sometimes.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's part of life.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: But the key is to not get discouraged, but instead take responsibility for figuring out what's not working and then get to work.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I had a couple paragraphs in my book, 18 Words to Live By that came out a few years ago, and I want to revisit those and share those with you here.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I wrote.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you always see yourself as a victim, you have no hope because you don't think you have any power.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Where does that power come from?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: It comes from taking responsibility for your life.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever you're facing, look around and ask yourself, what can I do to improve my situation?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's always something you can do to make things better.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I really like that quote, and I know it maybe it's weird to quote yourself on a podcast episode, but I really liked what I said there, and so I wanted to share it.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And this goes back to the whole concept of authorship, which is a theme that I've talked about many times here on the show.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And authorship is all about putting yourself in the driver's seat of your life and your career.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of people can help you and support you, of course, but your success ultimately comes down to how much you're willing to continue pressing on in spite of the inevitable problems and obstacles.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: You are responsible, and that literally means you are able to respond.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So to put this into practice, I suggest grabbing a notepad and writing down the number one obstacle that you're facing right now, and then brainstorm 10 ways that you could respond to that challenge.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And this is going to immediately give you a sense of ownership and momentum.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: You will own the problem instead of the problem owning you.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, the quote that I shared from 18 Words to Live By is taken from chapter one of my book.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I put responsibility as the very first chapter in that book because I believe it's the most important quality for success.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: To read more and to grab the book for yourself, you can do so via the link in the show notes.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Keep writing, keep showing up, and I'll see you tomorrow.