Finding Your Chief Aim and Making Your Impact
2022/02/14
1% of people have impact
99% barely make a ripple
If you’re like most people with an idea they want to share, you’ve been collecting all kinds of publishing and marketing “checklists” and “how to publish” reports. That information is pretty easy to find.
Our clients are a little different. They want more than to just write and publish a book. They want to make an impact. Maybe you relate to this?
You’ve got a wish, a hope, a snarled up frustrated feeling in your gut that you’ve got something important to share with the world. You watch other people do it. Maybe you even hear other people say things that you know you could say better…but you never act on it.
Or you start, get in the weeds, get too busy, go round and round with it, but never get it done. In some cases, you never even get it started.
Here’s a powerful piece of intelligence we’ve dispensed to our clients over and over again during our combined 60 years in publishing and visibility coaching. Until you know why you’re here on the planet - that ONE thing that you were born to do and give to the world - you won’t be ready to share your message with the world.
Napoleon Hill, the great American self-help writer, called this your “Chief Aim.” Successful influencers - writers, podcasters, speakers - know how to activate their own initiative, because they know where they are headed before they start.
This is more than goal setting. Goals are tangible metrics that measure how far along you are on the path and are often something you can reach in a short amount of time. This is about having a big vision, a tangible, but breath-taking desire, to do something impactful.
Pretty much any good publisher and visibility coach can help you meet your goals. An exceptional publisher and visibility coach will help you push towards that dream that takes your breath away and helps you fulfill the true purpose (the really, really BIG one) of why you’re here. That’s what we live for. Helping you fulfill your “Chief Aim” is our “Chief Aim.”
Usually it’s not knowing your “Chief Aim” that gets you hung up.
You might tell yourself:
Who am I to share my message?
I don’t have enough time.
I don’t know where to start.
My business is already successful. I don’t need to do this.
I have too many ideas.
I don’t know what to say.
I won’t know how to market or promote my work.
I’M NOT READY YET. (We hear this one all the time!)
(Fill in your creative excuse here _________________________)
These are all just clever - but pretty convincing - excuses.
Look, we’ve written books with newborn babies sleeping in our laundry baskets at our feet while sucking on strong coffee to stay awake. We’ve written books when our elderly parents needed extensive support and care. We’ve written books from scratch in less than three weeks after losing the entire original manuscript file on our computer. We’ve written best-selling books, launched podcasts, given TedX talks, while homeschooling our children during a pandemic. We’ve written books, spoken on podcasts, given talks on global stages, while raising teenagers. We’ve written books, hosted podcasts, given talks on global stages while running million dollar companies and simultaneously getting dinner on the table for our families.
When you know your Chief Aim, your excuses don’t win. You do it anyway.
Here’s the deal. Finding your Chief Aim isn’t always easy and if you’re struggling to connect with it, it’s not your fault.
We live in a culture that encourages us to put our Chief Aim on the back burner - until we retire or we have money or we do it on the weekends or when we have nothing to lose…
We live in a world that teaches us that dreaming is great, but your dream better be practical and “realistic,” otherwise you’re going to get hurt, disappointed and waste your time or money and people will judge you.
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