Episode 969: Should I Write a Book?

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 969 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm

[00:00:07] Wayne Titus: Wayne Titus author of the entrepreneur's guide to financial wellbeing. I encourage you to be inspired, to become a better steward through financial wisdom. By listening to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott.

[00:00:22] Scott Maderer: it's because I've discovered that I prefer to talk my thoughts through that, write them through. And so by having a podcast that lends itself to my strings, and I can use a lot of this content that I've produced over the years as the beginning seeds to the framework for the book. And that is valuable.

[00:00:44] Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true. And the [00:01:00] inspired stewardship podcast, we'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:11] In today's episode about developing your influence through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about my goal for next year, about writing a book. I share why I've changed my thinking about it over the years. And I also share why I recognize that I need help and how this could apply to you. You've heard me talk about developing your talent and what are the best ways to do that is through.

[00:01:36] But if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible. Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from. And you can pick one and listen your way to [00:02:00] developing your talents via.

[00:02:03] That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. Writing a book I've seen stats out there that say that somewhere around eight out of every 10, people say that they want to write a book. And yet the truth is a lot fewer than that.

[00:02:24] Actually get a book out into the world. And I will admit I'm one of those people. I've had a goal for years about writing a book, but over the last couple of years, I've been really paying attention to what I do when. And what I don't do well, and I still think I want to write a book. I want to get a book out into the world, one on stewardship and the things that I've learned about managing your time, your talent and your treasures.

[00:02:52] And I think that book will have value into the world, but I've also recognized that I'm [00:03:00] not going to do it. If I just keep leaving it to myself, to. Over the years I've changed my thinking about writing a book. I've often thought of writing a book is putting a really large and expensive business card out into the world that the book could be used to generate information and knowledge and connections with people much like this podcast is used in some ways to do.

[00:03:27] And I've also thought about using a book as a strategic tool to grow my business and my connections again, much like this podcast, but the truth is over the years, I've recognized that you can do more than that with a book as well. That it's important to think about what are the real reasons behind writing the book?

[00:03:50] If the thought processes, I'm going to write a book and live the life of an Arthur, or I'm going to write a book and make lots of money because of it. That's probably not [00:04:00] going to motivate you to actually get it done instead. What is it about your message that is unique and interesting and vital to get out into the world?

[00:04:10] What are the deeper reasons why writing a book is worth spending the time and energy to do. As I've thought about that. I've recognized that I do indeed have some ideas inside me that should and could be turned into a book. But again, if I just depend on myself to do it, I'm recognizing that it will never get.

[00:04:33] Don't worry. This is not just a plea of asking you for help in writing my book though. Honestly, I may, at some point be asking for help from some of you, but instead recognizing. That when we have really big goals like that, if our skill sets are such, that is not going to lend itself to what we do, then we've got to find other ways to do it either by using the skills [00:05:00] that we do have in unique and different ways.

[00:05:03] An example of that, one of the reasons I've been podcasting for so long. It's because I've discovered that I prefer to talk my thoughts through that, write them through. And so by having a podcast that lends itself to my strengths, and I can use a lot of this content that I've produced over the years as the beginning seeds to the framework for the book.

[00:05:26] And that is valuable, but it's also about recognizing that beyond that I still need more help. Editing is not my. I don't know, as well as others, how to make connections into publishing or self publishing versus hybrid all of these various ideas around writing and getting a book out into the world.

[00:05:49] Aren't my areas of expertise. So I can either spend a lot of time and energy learning those things. I can find a course or a program, or I can [00:06:00] find some people and involve them in the processes. In my case, I've decided to probably go the people route. I've got a good friend who works as a ghostwriter and he helps people create their book.

[00:06:16] By the way, ghost writing does not mean somebody sits down and writes a book for you. You can hire people to do that. But ghost writing is hiring someone whose skill set is to collaborate with you and help produce the book. That is the book you want, the content you want. The information that's in your head, they just help get it out into the world in a more efficient way.

[00:06:41] And as I've talked to him about it and thought more about it, I've recognized that this for me is probably going to be the most efficient way to create a book, because I know myself well enough to know that if I took one of those courses, or if I worked with somebody in that kind of framework, I'm still not going to produce.[00:07:00]

[00:07:00] The book's still not going to get out into the world. But if I collaborate with somebody who has my best interest at heart and who works with people like me, that I'm much more likely to produce what I want to get out into the. All of this applies to you. I'm using the specific example of me writing a book, but I'd be willing to bet that you have some big, hairy, audacious goals that have been on your list and have been out there and something that you've wanted to do for years and years.

[00:07:33] And yet you haven't accomplished. And when you think about those tasks, I think it's worth doing exactly what I'm talking about here with my goal, sit down and think about it. Why haven't you accomplishment? What is it about your skillset that either is lacking and that you need to go fill a hole or maybe you need to find somebody to collaborate with, or maybe you need to hire or take a course or something else to build up your skills.

[00:07:59] But [00:08:00] until you identify, what are the holes for you and what is. Best way to fill it for you. That goal is just going to remain on the list of things that you should have done and wish you had done and could have done instead of becoming the thing that you have done. Thanks for watching.

[00:08:21] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you liked this episode on the stewardship of talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/talent and sign up for our five week series on the stewardship of talent.

[00:08:52] Or if you're in the us, you can text 4, 4, 2, 2, 2 talent tips. [00:09:00] That's talent tips to 4 4 2, 2, 2, and get those tips until next time investor. Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world.