113: The Journey of Launching a Book
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Summary:
At Executive Minds, we love sharing the stories of people who are in various stages of a launch so you can learn firsthand the steps they re using to propel their vision forward. Today, our very own mentors, Jeff Henderson and David Farmer, talk about Jeff s latest project, a book he s writing called, For, and what he s found has made the undertaking not only manageable, but enjoyable. In today s episode, Jeff shares what he s learned during the process of writing his book, including the importance of defining small wins, knowing when to delegate, and the impact of setting a deadline.
Welcome to episode 113 of the Executive Minds Podcast.
Links + Resources:
On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
069: When Passion and Heart Lead the Way: Dana Spinola of fab rik
Five Takeaways:
1. Define small wins. When you break the task at hand down into small, manageable tasks, it s easier for you to manage your expectations and stress levels. For Jeff, his small win is writing 500 words a day instead of viewing his success through the lens of his total word count for the entire book. Once you achieve your small win, celebrate!
2. Define the type of work you re doing. Jeff shares how there are three types of work you ll be doing in the launch process: creative work, logistics work, and people. For him, the creative part of process is actually writing the book. The logistics work is the administrative tasks, such as writing captions, getting photo approvals, etc. The people portion of the work is connecting with the people in your sphere to help you, whether it s requesting they tweet about your upcoming project, or other helpful ways to support you.
3. Determine when you do your best work. When are you your most creative self? Whenever that time is, whether it s early in the morning when most people are still sleeping or late at night, that s when you should be doing your work. Also, take into account the ideal environment you need to be in to work creatively.
4. Does it drain or build your energy? Jeff shared a telltale sign of when he needs to delegate a task: If the tasks drains his energy or if he dreads it, that s a task someone else might need to be pulled in to do so it leaves him room to do what he does best.
5. Start now. Some of you have some great ideas that are meant to be shared with the world. So start sharing them! Give yourself an artificial deadline to light a fire within you and get going.
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