Sunday, April 24, 2016

Authors Need To Give Themselves The Authority To Succeed



An author I once represented told me:  “You don’t need to get anyone’s permission to be successful.”

This is simple but profound.  He was clearly saying if you see an opportunity, go for it.  Heck, don’t wait for an opportunity to appear -- create one. You don’t have to depend on anyone else or get approval to be a writer, an entrepreneur, or a leader.  Just become whom you really want to be.  Act as if you already have arrived and behave the way a successful person would.

I saw, in a small way, how this could play out.  Authors need to see themselves as the expert, as an authority, as the person uniquely positioned and qualified to discuss the things they talk on.  Once they acknowledge to themselves that they are worthy of being a media personality they will rise to the occasion.

The other day I impersonated a cop, well, not intentionally.

I had gotten off the train from my home to Grand Central Station.  I was waiting to meet a friend and took up residence by an abandoned police booth.  Normally a cop sits there. I was leaning on the booth, resting my newspapers on top of it.  I guess by proximity and association, people saw me as a cop, as an authoritative figure in the know.

No less than three different people came up to me in a two-minute time period, asking for train and restaurant directions.  I moved on, afraid I’d soon be given reports of crime that required things I didn’t have -- like a badge and gun!

But this little incident showed me that once people assume you are in a position of power or knowledge, they will come to you and treat you as if you are someone else.  Why can’t authors do that?  No, not play a cop or steal someone’s identity, but to wake up, get dressed and look yourself squarely in the mirror and see a savvy writer, an expert, a personality?  Just be it – and they will come.

Writers all too often assume not a strong, confident persona, but instead an insecure, weak, and wimpy version of whom they really can be.  You need to just assume a new role, a new you – and people will treat you differently – and as a result, you’ll respond in kind, in character.

This may be self-help 101, to become the person you want to be.  In this case it doesn’t require you to do or know anything more than what you already do or know.  But it demands that you speak, walk, and present yourself as if you are a somebody.  And why not?  You ae a somebody!

You don’t need anyone’s permission to excel.  You don’t need a special license, to pass a test, or pay a fee.  You don’t need to go to a gym or go back to school.  Just be who you really want to be – and you’ll become whom you’ve always really been.


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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016

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