Smile More
Believe it or not, way back in 1988, when I graduated high school, I won the most optimistic for my senior superlative. I was always smiling and always looking on the bright side of things. I always had a can-do attitude. Come to think of it, when I was a little kid, one of my nicknames was smiley. Hey, I couldn’t help it. The world was my oyster, and I was optimistically going to explore it and have a lot of fun doing it. I was an optimist, and everyone knew it.
Well, here I am all these years later. And so are you, my fellow self-publishing indie authors. We are in a tough business. We’re competing against the big boys and girls who have very deep pockets and teams of people writing and marketing their books. It’s not a fair fight. They are a lot bigger than us. But, although smaller, we are more nimble and agile than the big boys. So, we need to be optimistic about our ability to pivot a lot quicker than our big boy competitors out there.
But, regardless of some of our advantages, being an authorpreneur takes a toll on all of us. We tend to become workaholics. It’s the only way we solopreneurs can hang with the big boys who have whole teams competing against us. And while our journey is a pretty cool one, being a workaholic has its drawbacks.
We authorpreneurs tend to be sleep-deprived. That’s not good for our health and causes us to gain weight. I have been getting up at 4:00 AM seven days a week for more than a decade. Some of you have probably been doing the same thing. Sometimes, I’m so tired that I think I take micro-naps of just a few seconds at a time while I’m doing other things that don’t include sleeping. Maybe you do the same…
We also tend to put nutrition and exercise on the back burner as something we squeeze in when we can, which usually isn’t too often. Hey, we’re crazy busy. But… unfortunately, the lack of nutrition and exercise, like the lack of sleep is bad for us and tends to pack on a few extra pounds as well.
Sometimes our workaholic tendencies also take a toll on our relationships. Too often the quality of time with friends is a lot less than we would like it to be. Same with our family. Marriages and family time can be strained if we’re not careful while trying to become successful authorpreneurs providing for their family.
It’s like a punch in the gut sometimes in this business when we see the big boys popping out successful books, and we’re struggling with just a few of them. And then to add insult to injury, every time we look in the mirror, we’re seeing a thicker, older version of ourselves. We can’t even remember what our lives were like before all this craziness.
However, there is good news, though. All of our craziness in this business doesn’t really have to be that crazy, after all.
Now I know they used to call me smiley, and I won most optimistic in high school, but I think maybe we authorpreneurs might be cut from the same optimistic cloth. After all, we bravely and optimistically forged our own paths by becoming solopreneurs in the authoring and publishing world.
Even though it’s extremely challenging out there. We still forged ahead, making our own path and believing in our abilities to do it. I would say that’s a pretty impressive thing and something we all should be smiling about, wouldn’t you? What we’re doing is a really cool thing. And we all must be really cool people, too, to be doing it. Wouldn’t you agree?
So, here’s the deal. I want all of us to smile more. That in itself will help us be more optimistic. And being optimistic is what pushes us ahead to greatness on paths that many others will never experience.
Also, I want you to take care of yourself. Get a good night’s sleep. The work isn’t going anywhere. It will still be there in the morning. You don’t have to get it all done, especially at the expense of your physical and mental well-being.
Take the extra time to eat well and exercise. You’re worth it. And you deserve it. Spend some extra time with your friends and family. We are emotional and social creatures. We need people. And sometimes the authorpreneur world is a lonely isolated place. Isolation is not good for us. Get around people, and allow yourself not to think about the business. Instead, live in the moment with your friends and family. Smile a lot while around them. And then smile a bunch more when it’s done, and you’re back in your home office.
Hey, thoughts become things. So think about good things, and you’ll feel better and smile more. Then go out and physically do something positive that makes you feel connected with the great big world out there.
So, in closing, here are some things that I want you to do when you’re not feeling great. First, admit to yourself that you’re not feeling so wonderful. Contact your doctor for a physical if you haven’t had one in a long time. Control your thoughts. Take action. Make a human connection. And smile as big as you can. Simple, right?
*Check out the free video lesson on this chapter!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj4gbHJsX1w&list=PL_-39bUXJitwL8cHUpiZ5mO0-JJuaPOVl&index=41
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