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Chapter One
Do You Believe in Magic?
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Would you jump if you thought the ground wouldn’t catch you?
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Would you jump if you thought the ground wouldn’t catch you?
I hear writers talk about their dreams a lot. Their aspirations. Whether they be the lofty, “I want to be on the New York Times bestseller list!” or even something like, “I’d like to make *insert dollar amount here* off my work this year”, they are always followed by some form or another of, “...but I won’t.”
I have a question for you.
Who says you won’t? And, for that matter, who says you will?
You don’t know. Nobody knows! But that’s the beauty of it. We have no idea what can happen. So why not believe that it is possible, and live as though it really could happen?
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a lot more fun than living under a cloud of self-doubt with little bolts of, “You can’t. You won’t. So why bother trying?” shooting me in the back of the neck.
A word of advice: Bat that cloud away right now or else you are absolutely right: You will never get anywhere. You need to believe that your goal is possible. If you don’t believe that it’s possible, then it won’t happen. It’s that simple. The only thing we are guaranteed in this life is failure if we don’t try.
I have a question for you.
Who says you won’t? And, for that matter, who says you will?
You don’t know. Nobody knows! But that’s the beauty of it. We have no idea what can happen. So why not believe that it is possible, and live as though it really could happen?
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a lot more fun than living under a cloud of self-doubt with little bolts of, “You can’t. You won’t. So why bother trying?” shooting me in the back of the neck.
A word of advice: Bat that cloud away right now or else you are absolutely right: You will never get anywhere. You need to believe that your goal is possible. If you don’t believe that it’s possible, then it won’t happen. It’s that simple. The only thing we are guaranteed in this life is failure if we don’t try.
Have you ever reached for something, like your phone or the salt shaker, and it wasn’t there? Your brain told your hand that the thing was there, even though you couldn’t see it, or maybe you only saw it out of the corner of your eye, and you were honestly surprised when your fingers didn’t close around it. You believed that it was there for the taking, or else your hand wouldn’t have reached for it.
We don’t reach for things that we don’t think are there. Why would we? Because our brain knows that it’s a waste of time and effort, and our attention would be better spent elsewhere. And while that may be true in most cases, it isn’t when trying to make dreams come true. You have to really believe that what you want is in front of you so that you can reach for it. And who knows...it just might be there for the taking. You’ll never know until you try.
My own experience with this is a bit embarrassing, and a bit back and forth.
I was about to graduate high school and was stressing, as all seniors do, about what I was going to do when I left school. Would I go to college, or start working? Where did I want to work? What did I really want to do with my life? What legacy was I going to leave behind?
You know...kid’s stuff.
I was trapped in this bubble of stress...until I had a life-changing conversation with a friend. We were texting, and somehow we got onto the subject of jobs (she had already graduated, and was trying to decide what she wanted to do as well), and she just asked me, point blank: “If you could do anything, what would you do?”
I thought she meant it in a hypothetical way, like asking, “If you had any superpower, what would it be?” But I answered honestly: “I would be an author.”
Saying that this friend “flipped out” would be an understatement. “An AUTHOR?! THAT IS SO COOL!”
I was completely floored. No one had ever responded to that statement with that kind of enthusiasm. Not even close. (She was, admittedly, a very enthusiastic person, but you see my point.) I remember what she said next very clearly, because it would drastically alter the course of my life. “Benét, go for it! Stop everything else, and just DO IT!”
For days I thought about what she had said. Writing was the passion of my life. It was all I wanted to do, at all hours, every single day, if I had the chance. But as a job? A career? The thought had never really crossed my mind. Not only did I not think it was possible, I had never even entertained the thought because it was so outside my reach (or so I had thought).
But this crazy girl seemed to think it was possible. And so I started to think so, too.
Less than a year later, I had a book published.
We don’t reach for things that we don’t think are there. Why would we? Because our brain knows that it’s a waste of time and effort, and our attention would be better spent elsewhere. And while that may be true in most cases, it isn’t when trying to make dreams come true. You have to really believe that what you want is in front of you so that you can reach for it. And who knows...it just might be there for the taking. You’ll never know until you try.
My own experience with this is a bit embarrassing, and a bit back and forth.
I was about to graduate high school and was stressing, as all seniors do, about what I was going to do when I left school. Would I go to college, or start working? Where did I want to work? What did I really want to do with my life? What legacy was I going to leave behind?
You know...kid’s stuff.
I was trapped in this bubble of stress...until I had a life-changing conversation with a friend. We were texting, and somehow we got onto the subject of jobs (she had already graduated, and was trying to decide what she wanted to do as well), and she just asked me, point blank: “If you could do anything, what would you do?”
I thought she meant it in a hypothetical way, like asking, “If you had any superpower, what would it be?” But I answered honestly: “I would be an author.”
Saying that this friend “flipped out” would be an understatement. “An AUTHOR?! THAT IS SO COOL!”
I was completely floored. No one had ever responded to that statement with that kind of enthusiasm. Not even close. (She was, admittedly, a very enthusiastic person, but you see my point.) I remember what she said next very clearly, because it would drastically alter the course of my life. “Benét, go for it! Stop everything else, and just DO IT!”
For days I thought about what she had said. Writing was the passion of my life. It was all I wanted to do, at all hours, every single day, if I had the chance. But as a job? A career? The thought had never really crossed my mind. Not only did I not think it was possible, I had never even entertained the thought because it was so outside my reach (or so I had thought).
But this crazy girl seemed to think it was possible. And so I started to think so, too.
Less than a year later, I had a book published.
Exercises for implementation:
1. Visualize, visualize, visualize. Create a vision board, or write up a manifesto in the present tense about what you want your life to look like. Look at it every morning when you wake up, and every night before you go to sleep. Save a copy on your phone, or in your wallet or purse! Imagine yourself already there, cooking dinner in your beachside home, or getting on the plane to go on your international book tour...whatever your vision of success looks like, look at it as though it is right there for the taking. Because it is!
2. Surround yourself with believers; people who think your dreams are perfectly attainable through faith, passion, and hard work. You need people to remind you that you aren’t crazy; at least not in a bad way.
Benet, this is your Grandma Dotti talking. I just read the first chapter of your upcoming book, "I AM WRITE" and I am thrilled to see it for myself, for FREE, no less! I found it informative and exciting to think about. It is compelling me to purchase a copy for myself and several other people that I have heard say, "I have always wanted to write, but .....! Thanks for sharing ! Hugs, G. D.
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