Dauntless Writing Podcast Episode 16: The Harsh Truth of the World
Shots fired, I’ve been dealt a harsh truth by a couple of articles that I stumbled across on Cracked.com. Now I’m talking about how I’m applying what I’ve learnt about the world in this Podcast.
In this Podcast:
Nobody cares until you produce the goods.
Your readers don’t care about your excuses, Amazon does not care that you wrote what you think should be a bestseller.
All that matters is what you produce.
The problem with the world is, people look at it with wildly inaccurate perceptions. They think the Karate Kid is awesome. The Karate Kid is a lie. You can’t just do one training montage and go from being sucky to being awesome. Why didn’t they show the montage for what it really is? Because it sucks! working hard for 10 000 hours is dull as hell.
You hear of overnight successes in the Indie Publishing scene and say, huh, this is for me. You see Kindle Goldrush people selling their Udemy courses promising wealth for the low low price of $497 and think, hmm, I can afford to pay that to be successful. However, until you put in the time, you won’t get the results.
Scared yet?
If you want the true face of success in indie publishing, go look at Steve Scott. He wrote 50 books and has 11 years as an online entrepreneur before being an Overnight Success with Habit Stacking e-book. Go look at Hugh Howie, he wrote a bunch of books and struggled on his own before Wool took him into the big time. You know what? Both of them were baffled by the book that put them on the map. Hell, Scott admitted that Habit Stacking was not his best effort, and the ratings for it agreed with him. Howie had no clue why Wool took off when none of his other works before did.
If you look at that, then you will see the truth of the world. They produced the goods. They have stuff out there and is doing the thing until it made them famous enough for a scrub like me to know about their struggle.
Do you find that depressing? Then go produce the goods. Always be creating. There is a reason why that’s Podcast number 1. You’ll find yourself feeling better. We are creative beings, we are supposed to sit in a cubicle following orders, we are supposed to create stuff.
You know what’s holding you back? Your fears your doubts? Am I good enough?
It’s you that’s holding you back. Only you. do you know what freedom means? It means that you are free to fail to do anything and then blame others. Or you can be free to get on with it and produce the goods.
People will critisize what you’ve produced, and say that it’s worthless. Do you know what? They are not producing the goods, and that’s why they’re nasty. Deep down they know that they need to produce too. The only thing that is worthless is someone who does not produce something of value, and you’re not one of them.
Go out there and produce. That’s how you get your 10 000 hours to mastery. Butt in seat.
You alone have the power over failure and success. It’s not the market, your mum, your upbringing, your opportunities, it’s all you. Didn’t hit that book deadline? You’re not producing the goods. Book didn’t sell enough copies? You’re not producing the goods. Don’t know what went wrong? find out! the Internet is there for everyone.
How do you change all that failure into wins? By producing the goods. Do what you know is your best work right now, in marketing, organizing and marketing. You know what? You will find your capability expanding. So what if it’s not as good as Stephen King? You’re not him. He got where he got by producing the goods and that’s the only difference between you and him. You have yet to produce the goods to the level that he has. I’m sure he sucked when he started too, but he did his best, and his best became better and better. So will yours.
Links:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9XW6P0tiVc (NSFW)
http://thelastpsychiatrist.
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