Think Big to Be Big
SUMMARY
Writers (or anyone) must aim for big goals and take bold actions to achieve them. Success results from thoughts and actions; we all need to think and act more extensively to achieve more. Setting outlandish goals and creating actionable plans to achieve them are critical. This can be applied to anyone in any aspect of life.
EXPANDED DISCUSSION
Want to be a bestselling author? Or the best anything? It’s possible. I’d even say it is likely. If…
Success is simple, and I will proceed knowing that I will sound like some cheesy self-help book, but there is some kernel of truth even in the cheesiest of anything. Your thoughts and actions are the keys to your success or your failure.
You say, duh, but think seriously about it. You are where you are because of your thoughts and actions. Are you happy where you are? Are you satisfied with everything in your life? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the problem if you aren't. Your current thoughts and actions have led you to this point. A new level of thought and action will take you to another place. Do you follow this?
You have achieved what you have achieved because of your thinking and actions up to this point. If this is not good enough for you, if you are not where you want to be in any aspect of your life, then to achieve more, you must think more extensively than you are currently thinking and move faster than you are presently moving.
When I talk with authors or want-to-be-authors at speaking engagements, I ask them about their goals. Most writers don’t have a goal; if they do, it is a goal not supported by actions. Most of the time, I hear one of two things: I want to write a book that people will love or make a million dollars off it and see it as a movie. Both goals are admirable. The first one, though, is limiting. Wouldn’t you also like to be paid for the book? And maybe paid well? The second goal sounds great, but when I ask the follow-up question, “How are you going to make a million dollars from this book and see it as a movie?” I learn no action plan is behind this far-fetched (and now impossible) dream. Most writers fall into two categories: they don’t have high enough goals or they have outrageous goals with no action plan behind them. Nothing can be accomplished or measured without desire, desire with a point. Without action, nothing will change.
So, look at yourself right now in our cheesy discussion here. Are you possibly setting your own goals too low? Are you maybe dreaming of outrageous outcomes with no actionable plans for achieving them? Both attitudes are limiting. As an author, you want to write a book, but you also need to ask why and how you expect this book to perform and what level of success it will reach. Don’t set your goals low or forget that actions for achievement are required.
I’m hounding you on this because as a business owner (and I think even when we are employees, we are business owners of our own business and our success), I want you to dream big. After all, big dreams do not happen by accident. They are a result of what you daringly think and what you daringly do. You might think you’re being silly for dreaming big. Don’t. Which is better to fail at: that you’re going to sell ten thousand books, or you’re going to sell ten million books, or you’re going to make ten thousand dollars, or you’re going to make ten million dollars? If I want to fail, I’d much rather bypass the ten thousand and fail across the board at the ten million, but I’ll never reach the ten million if I don’t dare to dream it and then put the actions in to achieve it.
To be a successful author, look around at the other authors you know or know about, and do not do what they are doing. Do more than the other writers you know are doing: write better, market better, produce more. Make a list of outlandish goals that you would like to achieve. Then, please list goals and the incredible thoughts and actions you can and will take to complete them. All must be outlandish. Reasonable will not suffice. Reasonable will make you average. Reasonable will allow you to settle for much less than your potential. I want so much more for you than that.
So, to sum it all up, writers set goals with subpar or unreasonable expectations without identifying what it will take to gain those unreasonable goals. Both result in less-than-stellar accomplishments. Instead, think outlandishly, plan outlandishly, and work outlandishly (because if you are doing what you love, this will never feel like work anyway, will it? It will feel like play).
Write better, market better, and produce more.
So go ahead and be a kid again. Dream, fantasize, and play outlandishly. Play big. Set your thoughts and actions so high it makes your head spin. Then watch what happens.
Like this blog? Sign up for Clay’s newsletter, which offers encouragement, skills, resources, and knowledge relating to a balanced life while writing, marketing, promoting, and living. https://claystafford.com/newsletter
