The Difference Between Intention and Action

Dear Friends,

The inspiration behind this newsletter is my recent read of a book called Seeds of Hope (Forefront Books) which is about the arduous grind one family took in taking their business from an idea to the very large company it is today. I have known the family behind the book personally for more than 45 years. My dad, Harry Young, performed the wedding for the now CEO, David Stelzer and his wife, Kimberly. It was amazing to see their story in book form, written down for readers to learn from.

Reading this book made me really think about the concept of intention vs. action when it comes to getting a company's story down on paper. The statistic that moved me into authoring my own books and then eventually getting into the publishing industry was this one…

81% of Americans feel they have a book in them and only about 2% ever follow through with writing a manuscript (with even fewer taking their project to the publishing stage).

So many professionals want to write a book but few ever do. The gap is real.

Why the book stays in your head

The reasons are rarely about talent. They are usually some version of these challenges:

• There is never a good time. Work, family and everything else get the best hours of the day. A book gets whatever is left.

• The project feels enormous. Writing several thousand words is intimidating when you have never written more than an email or a report.

• Perfectionism. If chapter one has to be flawless before chapter two exists, chapter two never gets written.

• “Who would read it?” Many people decide their story is not interesting enough, and they decide it on behalf of readers who never got to experience their book.

How the 2% do it differently

They are not more talented or less busy. They simply treat the book as a project instead of a wish. They do this by:

• Shrinking the goal. Five hundred words a day is a small, repeatable habit. Having a coach or using Zoom to speak a book rather than write one helps many to succeed.

• Protecting a time slot. Thirty minutes before the workday starts beats a vague plan to write “when things calm down.”

• Writing without editing. The first draft’s only job is to exist. You cannot edit a blank page.

• Writing for one reader. Picture a specific person who needs what you know, and write to them. Your book does not have to speak to everyone.

• Engaging a team or “writing in public” as author Nathan Barry says. Tell a colleague your deadline, join a writing group, or send a weekly word count to a friend. A little accountability goes a long way.

Your first step this week

Open a document and write one page about the single most useful thing you have learned in your career. That page is the seed of the book, and it also tells you whether the idea has energy.

Then do it again tomorrow.

No one learns from untold stories,

Maryanna