What do successful authors have in common regarding book publicity and marketing?
One word: Action.
It’s true for all well-known business people, authors, speakers, consultants, and others who are successful and have influence within their spheres. They all have this in common: Action. They take action and quickly — even when they’re not quite sure how they’re going to accomplish their goal or objective.
This post is not about goal setting. Heaven knows there is plenty advice out there about that. It is, however, about clarity, and what can sometimes stand in the way of that.
No matter what it is that you want, you must decide what that is, make a plan, and take action. With clients who are in the process of building their influence, there is a tendency to avoid the most important things that need to be done. Sometimes it’s because they are overwhelmed or there just doesn’t seem to be enough time, and sometimes it’s because they’re having trouble figuring out what they really want. But most often it comes down to fear.
Fear is tricky. Sometimes it masks itself as boredom. Sometimes as confusion. Sometimes as disinterest. But if you’re lucky, you feel it as fear, because, as they say: “If you feel it, you can heal it.” Corny, I know, but it’s true. When fear is hiding, it’s more difficult.
So how do we get beyond these fears, however they’re disguised, and move into action? Great question.
1. Identify it: Are you actively going after the things you say you want? Or do you find yourself procrastinating and not quite getting to the things that will move your project forward? If the latter, it’s likely that fear is stopping you. Really take a look at this.
2. Remember that it’s all in your head: You’re inventing it. If a lion is chasing you down the street, then fear is a totally appropriate response. RUN! If, however, you’re avoiding learning how to do video or to attend sessions on media training for doing interviews, or you’re hesitant to conduct cold calls, then that fear is all in your head. It feels real, but it isn’t a real threat to your safety.
3. Challenge it: Ask yourself this question: If I didn’t feel stuck, or frustrated, or overwhelmed, or fearful, would I go after my dreams? Is this fear in my head really stopping me?
4. Try a new mantra: One of my favorites when I was learning to conduct cold calls as a publicist was, “Oh, what the hell!” Another for a friend of mine way, “It doesn’t matter — nobody will die.
Then I would pick up the phone and call a producer at The View or Oprah or wherever. It got easier, but initially when I was first starting out, it was scary.
5. Pretend you’re someone else: Pick a person you know who could easily do what you’re scared to do, or think of a celebrity who would never hesitate to do what you want to do, and pretend you’re them. As the famous slogan says, “Just do it!” You can pretend anything until you get really good at it.
6. Talk to someone else about it. It could be your spouse, good friend, mentor, associate, even your dog. Sometimes just admitting it and saying the words out loud can be the very thing to get you going again, but talk to someone.
I just got re-licensed as a Master Practitioner of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and learned all kinds of tips and techniques for getting over and through fear. You don’t have to stay stuck. You can move beyond it and into action as so many of the thought leaders have done. Brian Tracy, Ken Blanchard, Dave Ramsey, and Geneen Roth have moments of fear — we all do — but they challenged it. They don’t let it stop them. Then they learned from it and move on just as we all should.
Bottom Line:
Everyone experiences fear from time to time. It’s Okay. You just don’t want to camp out in those feelings too long. Don’t let fear keep you from taking action: Your book’s message needs to get out into the world, and that means you need to get going. Go get ‘em.
To your success!
Joanne
P.S. And some days procrastination is just necessary. It’s a good time to watch this video for a good laugh.
#TakeAction | #NoFear | BookPublicity | #BookMarketing