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What Actions Can You Take Today that Are a Gift to Your Future Self?

I attended a sales event from Jennifer Diepstraten in 2019. One thing she said had REALLY stuck with me:

What actions do you do TODAY are really for your future self, five years from now?

I find that English and verb tenses, especially the future tense, don’t play nicely together. So let’s look at this in hindsight:

What habits or actions do you do today that were set in motion years ago?

Me:

  • Ten years ago in July, I decided I would send a weekly newsletter on Tuesdays. I’ve never missed a week.
  • Ten years ago this August, I said yes to a first date with a guy whose online profile didn’t meet my “minimum requirements”. We’ve been married five years and have two beautiful children.
  • Seven years ago next month, I said yes to an opportunity I HAD been saying no to for the prior three years. I joined the Sassy Mastermind (year-long) and met 100% of my best friends, built a business from scratch, and have touched thousands of lives.
  • Nine months ago, I decided I would get up no later than 6:30 am to work on my business – taking training, writing emails, designing courses – before the house woke up.

Notice in this list, that some were a one-time decision that bred a long-term habit. And some were a one-time decision that changed the trajectory of my life.

So, let me ask you again:

What can you do TODAY that your future self will thank you for?

Here’s one action that you can take – that’s pretty easy, low risk, and can yield HUGE rewards:

Register a virtual ticket to “Brew Your Book – LIVE: Stop ‘Percolating’ on Your Message and FINALLY Write Your Book”.

It happens this weekend – Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

You don’t have to travel.

Heck! You don’t even have to get dressed. Come in your PJs! Let your dog snooze under your chair.

And let me pour into you.

For three days, let me help you uncover your message. Let me help you dive deep into what you want to BE in the world. Together, we’ll dig into story and storytelling – so you can share your message. And we’ll also put together a custom plan for how you’re going to write YOUR book.

Register Here.

Now, you might be thinking:

I can’t just clear three days in my life last minute!!!

Well…

You could if you HAD to. Like if somebody got sick.

And you could if you WANTED to. If you really, REALLY wanted to.

Here’s what I want you to do:

Commit to your future self. Take this action NOW.

And then, if you know you’ll miss some (or all) of the event, I want you to grab the All-Access Pass – the recordings – and commit to watching them.

(BTW: last week was a 2-day virtual retreat for a business training that I’M in. I knew I couldn’t attend much of it live. So I watched what I could and I’ve scheduled the recordings into my plan for the next two weeks. My future self will thank me.)

Here’s what you’ll learn at the event:

  • The steps to uncover your powerful message so you can move your readers – and change their lives.
  • Exactly how to write powerfully and easily – even if you think you’re not a writer or struggle with expressing yourself in written word.
  • What needs to go into the book and what doesn’t so that your reader feels that you understand them – and are here to help.
  • How to deal with procrastination, writer’s block, overwhelm, and lack of motivation so that you’re able to keep going – moving forward and making steady progress – even if your inspiration gets derailed.
  • My proven method to consistently finding the time to write no matter how busy your life is!
  • How to engage your readers – from the first page – so that they keep reading, and so they recommend your book to their friends.
  • How to share your message in a way that your readers will remember – even if they forget the steps of your process, acronym, or system.
  • Why writing a book is the best way to be seen as an expert – and how having a book can open doors to interviews, speaking gigs, and more clients.
  • And more…

PLUS, there will be a ton of time to work on your writing. To practice and get feedback.

COMING to the event is a gift from your current self to your future self. It’s a gift to the sacredness of your Message. It’s a gift to your readers.

Register Your Virtual Ticket

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How long does it REALLY take to write a book?

There are people in the book coaching industry who promise that you can write a book in a VERY short timeframe – I’m talking two days (that start with S and end with y) or as little as 30 days.

Let’s be real here:

You CAN write a book in those timeframes.

But it isn’t a message-driven book. The one that has been percolating in your head, the one that’s on your heart, the one that you KNOW you’re meant to share.

Writing a book in two days isn’t a book. It’s a booklet, maybe, or a pamphlet. Something tiny.

You, want to write a book that will change lives.

It’s not about how LONG the book is – because I’ve seen small books do that. And I’ve seen big books do that.

It’s about the message.

It’s about putting your heart on the page and telling your reader:

  • I care about you.
  • I’ve been where you are.
  • I can help you.
  • You matter.
  • You are seen.
  • You are loved.
  • You are not alone.

And THAT book… that book deserves your time, effort, energy, and dedication.

THAT is the book that I coach with my clients in the VIP Writing Mentorship.

How long does it take?

A year.

Now, before you start thinking, “A year! That doesn’t apply to ME!” let me talk you off that ledge.

For some people, a year feels unfathomable. Far too long. You want it quick-quick in double time. YOU are the person who COULD write a message-driven book, 75,000 perfect words, in a month. Six weeks, tops.

For other people, that year feels too short. You’ll need at least three years to pour over every word, carefully cultivate every sentence, dive DEEP into the research. Actually… make that five years, you need more time.

There are always outliers. But in my years of coaching authors, from the hundreds of people I’ve coached…

It.
Takes.
A.
Year.

You need TIME to uncover your message. To sit with it. To let it speak to you. To figure out HOW to share it on the page.

You need PRACTICE to learn to write stories. To learn how to share your knowledge in a way that the reader can receive, remember, act upon.

You need MENTORSHIP to see how the ideas flow together, come into the path that you take your reader on, moving through how you help them. You need someone to watch the big picture, while you concentrate on the writing.

You need STRUCTURE for the arc of the book as a whole. What goes where, how to cultivate transitions, when to repeat yourself, and when to let it stand.

You need WRITING TIME carved from your life. Not giving up the important things like baking cupcakes with your kid or your Tuesday park trips, but also not mindlessly watching TV and avoiding your book.

You need ENCOURAGEMENT on what you’re doing – and you don’t have to do it alone. It’s more than just the rah-rah of successfully writing for five days in a row, or the detailed feedback about what’s working (or not) in your writing. It’s help figuring out YOUR writing process – and guiding you to be better.

These things can’t be rushed. They also don’t have to take forever!

Most of the authors who come to me in the VIP Writing Mentorship have been “working” on their book 2-3 years. That’s writing off and on, maybe a draft, usually somewhere less than 30 pages. They’ve got ideas. They know they NEED to write – but they’re stuck.

And oh-so-tired of being stuck!

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that the VIP Writing Mentorship was once just a 4-month program. Except… my authors would need to renew. Twice. 4×3=12.

So the VIP Writing Mentorship is a year. A year of uncovering your Message, learning to tell stories, putting it all together, doing the daily work of WRITING, getting feedback, knowing who you’re writing for, and encouragement from me – and your fellow authors.

Enrollment will open at “Brew Your Book – LIVE! Stop ‘Percolating’ on Your Message and FINALLY Write Your Book.” And the folks who are in the room will get the first opportunity to fill my five open mentorship spots.

While you’re AT the event, you’ll get to experience what the Mentorship is like. You’ll see (some) of my PROVEN system and get to experience mentorship, feedback, and encouragement. Plus so much FUN. (Seriously, the Friday night session is going to be AMAZING!)

There’s still room to come to the event. Because even if the Mentorship isn’t a good fit right now, you’ll walk away from Brew Your Book Live knowing how to write a compelling book that will share your message – and transform lives. You’ll also walk away with a customize writing plan so you have confidence you’ll actually write the book (instead of just talking about it!)

Register Here.

After the event, if there are still any spots in the VIP Writing Mentorship, I’ll reach out to you and invite you to learn more and enroll.

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God Sent a Stump

When Ben and I moved into this house six years ago, there was a little metal shed next to the garden. And like all metal sheds, the door was too low, it was an oven in the summer, and an ice box in the winter. For a short time, his motorcycle and the riding lawn mower lived in there.

And spiders. Black widows to be exact – because metal sheds are impossible to seal up at all, let alone well enough to keep the spiders out.

Then there was the mouse that got into the chicken feed. The one that ate the few things we were storing in the shed.

So we stopped using the shed. Shortly after we moved in, an elm tree sprang up on the south side. If you know anything about elms, they are a weed-tree. They grow where you don’t want them, are nearly impossible to get rid of (you need to dig up the roots), and drop stinking sap and soft wood branches over EVERYTHING.

We cut down that elm about four years ago.

It came back. So we ignored it and the shed. Until two weeks ago when it was time to pull down the old metal shed and build a new wood shed in it’s place. The elm had slowly been peeling back the roof of the metal shed, letting in debris, dirt, bugs. Ben did what he could with the sawzall but finally had to borrow my dad’s chain saw to cut down the stump.

And then Ben started building the new garden shed. The base is the foundation of the old metal shed – it was in excellent shape, exactly where we needed it, and level.

The first wall to go up was the south wall.

And the first wall to be hit by a huge gust of north wind – and to fall over – was the south wall.

The siding was damaged but the wall was actually in okay shape; it fell into brush clippings. So Ben knew we could simply lift it back into place.

Simply.

Doesn’t apply to a 12-foot long wall made of 2x4s, siding, and a ton of nails. Especially when it fell BELOW the level of the foundation. I’m physically pretty healthy now after two babies and the surgery-that-went-sideways. But I’m not very STRONG (unless it’s carrying babies or a full coffee mug!)

Somehow, Ben got the wall to stand up (I was fishing Little Bean OUT of the dog water bowl so I missed it) and then called me to help him lift it into place.

When I got to the build site, I realized that the wall wasn’t perched on the shed foundation; it was about two inches lower and balanced on… something.

God sent a stump.

  • Six years ago, he placed an elm seed in the exact right spot to grow.
  • Five years ago, we cut it down – so that it would grow back bigger and thicker.

And then it waited. Growing. Not just taller but THICKER, until it was a huge base of multiple trunks.

Waiting.

To be cut down again. To be used as the PERFECT place to rest a fallen wall so two people who weren’t strong enough to lift the wall back into place – could. And lift the wall relatively safely.

God sent a stump.

Long before the wall fell, Ben found the perfect piece of scrap 2×12 to fit OVER the stump – to turn it into a bench. He thought I’d want to sit there to watch the kids play. *I* knew it would really be the perfect reading nook in the future for a little girl who loves to be outside.

God sent a stump.

I don’t know why I still get so surprised when the God of the Universe puts things in my path for the perfect use at the perfect time. Maybe because I usually only see the immediate serendipity. This had been set into motion six years ago.

My author, the way you and I are together today was also set into motion YEARS ago. Gods perfect plan has been in alignment all this time so that you would be reading this email, today. He has worked in my life over my lifetime but especially over the last five years – when I went from knowing there was a higher power to knowing God.

That stump was in the exact right place at the exact right time to help us.

And maybe, today, I’m YOUR stump. We’re together in the exact right place at the exact right time so I can give you the stable boost you need to finally write your book and share your message.

Join me. Come to Prescott next month. Register for “Brew Your Book – LIVE! Stop Percolating on Your Message and FINALLY Write Your Book”.

Register Here.

When you look back at this moment in your life, I want you to see the moment that your life changed – for the better. The moment that your message sprang into life and went out to do good work in the world.

God sent me a stump.

What is He sending you?