How many people do you know (perhaps, yourself included) that have a dream but never take action to bring it to fruition? It’s easy to procrastinate and make excuses for not accomplishing our goals. We don’t have time. There’s not enough money in savings. We’re too old or too young. We don’t know the right people. If you’re one of millions of people who have always wanted to write a book but keep not doing it, this post is for you.
Best-selling author Richard Paul Evans began his illustrious writing career as a fiction novelist in 1992. His novella, “The Christmas Box,” was published a year later with more than $4 million in advance payment from the publisher. Today, there are more than eight million copies in print. Evans once told a story of how a misdiagnosis for multiple sclerosis changed his life and taught him to pursue his dreams.
The time to write a book is now
If you want to write a book, now is the time to start. It’s really the time for pursuing any dream, whether it’s to travel or spend more time with your family or launch a business. For Evans, who had been experiencing ill-health, a misdiagnosis prompted him to start checking items off his bucket list, which included taking more field trips and spending time with his family.
He was already a best-selling author of many novels. When he thought he had contracted a potentially terminal health condition, he realized that life is short, and there were things he wanted to do but never did—mostly, stop working so much and enjoy his wife and children. There are many people who have held a similar dream as Richard Paul Evans to write a book. Thankfully, Evans later learned that his symptoms were not being caused by the disease he thought he had. He said that while he was relieved, he was also thankful for the misdiagnosis, because it helped him refocus is priorities in life.
Don’t wait for bad news to make your dream come true
If you want to write a book, do it now. The longer you wait for all the ducks to be in a row, the more unlikely it is that you will ever accomplish your goal. Think of it this way: It’s better to start writing and take a long time to finish the project, than never to start it at all. Who was it that said that only failure lies in never having attempted to make your dream come true? Or something like that. There’s no time like the present to write a book.
You might never receive a terminal medical diagnosis or even a misdiagnosis, but you can learn from others. If you keep putting off your dreams and plans and goals, you might never have a chance to make them a reality. Whatever it is, stop waiting and start doing. Here’s a post by Richard Paul Evans from deep in the archives of LinkedIn that may inspire you.
