Todd Wright Now: Success

Showing posts with label Success. Show all posts

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Success - Writing and Publishing

Following is the meat of a post to a friend on Facebook in response to a question about publishing:

My last book was self-published, so I didn't work with a publisher on that one. It was actually my 8th novel and I tried a little to get some of the other ones published but never really delved deeply enough into it.

In some ways, I wish I would have tried to do more with them, but then again I think something inside made me want to wait to mature as a writer and as a person. And no regrets, there is only now. And speaking of now, I've written a 9th novel, working title The Obamacare Experiments, and now I'm pursuing a traditional publisher for that one more rigorously.

Find an Editor

One thing I've come to understand is that you have to invest in your product. That means you need to seek out a professional editor. It's expensive but it must be done, for four reasons.

First, it's the best way to learn. It's like hiring a tutor.

Second, writing is a collaborative process. It is very rare when a person can just write something down and have it published (maybe impossible). You need that professional with credentials. Why? So you will trust their recommendations. Preferably, you should find one from NYC with publishing experience, again expensive, but worth it.

One more piece of advice on the selection I might offer: if you're a woman, find a male editor and vice versa. This is not a hard and fast rule, by any means, but in my own research (anecdotal though it may be) I found that this dynamic seems to lend itself to creation of a better product . . . food for thought.

The Enlightened Life in Just 3 Words

The translation of the Tao to Ching that I cut my teeth on was the one (pictured) by Stephen Mitchell. I'm no Chinese scholar by any means but I've read several different translations and the one by Mitchell strikes me as having been written by someone who not only knows Chinese (and English) but who also embodies the Tao, as the Tao te Ching says all superior men do upon hearing of it.

But the translation by Gia Fu Feng & Jane English contains one phrase that is superior for what I would call its "arrestiveness,"that is, its ability to put thinking on hold for a moment, to arrest thought, one of the main goals, I would argue, of the Tao te Ching. This one simple phrase incapsulates the entirety of the enlightened life in just 3 words.

Affirmations Help You Live Consciously

The most important affirmation you can incorporate into your life is, "I am fully committed to feeling great 100% of the time," followed closely by any affirmation you can come up with having to do with self-confidence. Feeling great 100% of the time is self-confidence, in my opinion, and since self-doubt doesn't feel great at all, it's covered in this one. Say it as often as you think of it throughout your day--especially when you don't feel like feeling great--and it will change your life.

So what's happening when we engage in this simple exercise of affirmation? What's happening is, you're beginning to live your life consciously. Plato said, "The unobserved [i.e. unconscious] life isn't worth living," and as most of us who have suffered through a lot of unnecessary suffering at the hands of unconscious living can easily attest, Plato was right.

Where Do Affirmations Come From?

You are your consciousness. Your consciousness and Consciousness are one. You are Consciousness. Your voice is the voice of your consciousness. Your voice is the voice of Consciousness. When you use your voice, Consciousness is taking its rightful dominion. Use the voice of Consciousness to dictate to subconsciousness exactly what Consciousness wants for your life. These vocal directions are affirmations. Awareness of this simple process in the miracle of humanity.

But where do affirmations come from? This is an important question. In much the same manner as described in "How We Know Stuff," affirmations arise from being. If you give them a try, you'll find that you can't just pick any affirmation you want. You may get that affirmation down on paper and you might be able to say it a few times. But each time you do, it won't sit well with you. You'll find yourself pondering that affirmation, scrutinizing it, until finally you modify it or reject it as not in line with your being, with who you are.

How to Find the Doing That Arises from Your Being

"I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was." --Muhammad Ali

One of the best tests for figuring out if you're doing that which arises from your being is to modify Muhammad Ali's famous affirmation by saying out loud: "I am the greatest _____________ of all time," and fill in the blank with what you're doing right now. If this isn't really the doing that arises from your being, you probably won't even be able to finish saying this short sentence. And if you do finish it, the words will feel like bits of cardboard in your mouth.

If, on the other hand, the words roll off your tongue with fluidity and ease, you've found the right doing for you (and you probably already know that). Now, to achieve greatness in that doing, put aside any misplaced, misguided, culturally-induced sense of supposed humility you're supposed to harbor within your soul and say your own version of this affirmation as many times as you think of it throughout the day. Tinker with it to come up with your own wording to make it more personal to you, then make it your habit to think it and to say it as often as possible. Say it both to yourself and to other people. That's right, say it to other people. If you do, you will achieve greatness, guaranteed.

Self-Confidence: A Commitment to Feeling Good

Self-confidence is the key to all success. So what is it exactly?

We have already said that self-confidence is "the bond that connects being with doing," and "the strength to do that which arises from one's being, come what may." See "Use Daily Affirmations to Strengthen Self-Confidence"). But one might also say that self-confidence is a commitment to feeling good.

"How does that work?" you ask. It works like this.

Connection with being is that which gives rise to good feelings inside you. To get the sense of what I mean, go to "An Exercise for Experiencing the Joy of Being," and then come back and finish this article. Go ahead, we'll wait . . .

Use Daily Affirmations to Strengthen Self-Confidence

The core principle of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, the granddaddy of all success literature, is the building of self-confidence through twice-daily affirmations, a process Hill called "auto-suggestion." He says quite pointedly:

Taking inventory of mental assets and liabilities, you will discover that your greatest weakness is lack of self-conﬁdence. This handicap can be surmounted, and timidity translated into courage, through the aid of the principle of autosuggestion.

Your problem, in other words, is a lack of self-confidence, and here's how to fix it. And fix it, it does.

Think and Grow Rich - The ENTIRE Book!

What follows is the original version of the book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill in its entirety (click "Read More" below). Each page can be magnified by clicking on it.

After several readings of Think and Grow Rich, I've become convinced of its inspired nature. I invite you to read a chapter a day. If you will do that and DO WHAT IT SAYS, your life will be positively changed.

You may find the writing archaic, many of the examples out of date and women will find it geared toward the inspiration of men. I encourage you to look past that to the kernel of the presentation, which is the Carnegie Formula for success. I'm putting it into practice and I'm finding that it really works on every level, from personal peace to the accumulation of riches.

Read the book, a chapter a day, then read it again. Take down notes as you read, then read through your notes. DO WHAT THIS BOOK SAYS and your life will change for the better!

See Think and Grow Rich - The ENTIRE Book! listed under Pages on the right column of this blog for links to all the chapters.

If you'll write to me, I'll send you the PDF version.

Go to Author's Preface

Go to Table of Contents

Go Directly to Chapter 1