When you’re afraid, you are focused only on yourself and your own needs. Fear puts you into survival mode. Fear makes it impossible to see outside of yourself. Fear traps you inside yourself. I don’t mean this to say selfishness is bad. It’s not. Like fear, selfish- ness has its place in your life. I say this to help you refocus on a main reason you probably want to write your book: to give something back, and make an impact on other people. Imagine the person you will be helping. Think of them very spe- cifically. Imagine the pain they are in now. Feel the suffering they have because they haven’t read your book. How much of a difference will your knowledge make in their lives? Your book is important to them. It matters to their lives. That’s why you are writing it. They need your book. Think about how much they need the knowledge you have. Imagine your audience after they’ve read your book. What will their lives be like then? How much better will they be because of your book? Connect with that feeling. Can you do it—for them? You want to write your book to help other people solve a problem that you used to have, one that’s very painful to you. Helping those people is a big part of your motivation. And picturing those people in need, and you letting them down if you do not write your book, is a very powerful motivator. Using this motivation turns out to be the ultimate fear-buster: most people who can’t be courageous for themselves can easily be courageous for other people. And of course, if you just think about who your book is intended to help, you can focus on them. And if you do that—if you focus on hOW TO BEAT yOUr fEArS (AND fiNiSh yOUr BOOk) · 47