Brian Tracy International claims 82 percent of adults dream of writing a book. I believe it! Last year it conducted a survey of 1100 people on their main reasons for wanting to write a book. What did the survey find? Check it out:
To the question, “What is your main reason for wanting to write a book?”:
54 percent chose the response that they “have a great message or experience that they want to share to help inspire others.”
This does not surprise me. So many of my clients who have written nonfiction book(s) share this feeling.
BTI also asked respondents, “What is holding you back from writing a book?”
40 percent chose the response, “I don’t know where to start.”
18 percent chose, “No time.”
16 percent chose, “Lack confidence.”
15 percent chose, “Don’t feel qualified.”
The rest fell into the “Other” response category.
When it comes to writing a book, feeling a lack of confidence or qualification can be part of what is underneath the feeling of not knowing where to start.
And feeling a lack of time to sit down and write is one of most common procrastination strategies.
What can be underneath the procrastination? The same two things: feeling unqualified and a lack of confidence.
When something becomes important enough, we find a way to make time. And there are some good strategies to successfully carving out that time.
Rilke
But before the “making the time” strategies, the first step is to identify a topic that you are passionate about! It could be a topic that you already know a lot about or one you want to learn more about. Many authors start with their area of knowledge or expertise. Others start with a question, and develop the book to answer their question.
As the poet and novelist Rainier Maria Rilke once wrote,
“Love the questions themselves. Live the questions now.”
Writing a book is definitely one way to do just that!
If you are dreaming of writing a book, what is your main reason? If you have not started, but want to, what is holding you back?
