The Power of Certainty-A Reality Where Success Is Inevitable
by Jaime Buckley
You and I need to have a conversation.
It’s about time, ya know.
I watch you putting forth so much effort, weaving your creativity, shaping your ideas, but then you stress.
You wonder if you’re doing the right thing. You question each decision you make, then watch other people make headway while you feel stagnant. So you change things up, hoping it’ll make a difference — instead of giving your plans enough time to manifest enough results to measure.
You've been following people on In-Yer-Facebook and InstaGlam who make it seem like they have no issues and a perfect life. You’re clicking on ‘secrets’ spewed out on YouTube adverts by people showing paychecks I can outdo in three minutes with Photoshop and an iPhone.
Stop it.
Seriously, just stop all of it.
You’re in a better place than you think you are. That’s why we need to have this conversation. I’ve been where you are. I’ve done what you’re doing.
…and I’ve used the same potty-mouth words you did last time. I know, it frustrated you and you had to vent out loud.
It’s going to be okay, I promise.
…and it’s a promise I can keep.
Here’s The REAL Secret
There are no ‘secrets’.
You already know this, but something in you wants the lie to be true.
‘Secrets’ is just a marketing word used to get your attention. A tactic encouraging you to make irrational decisions. When you see this used in any form of writing, you don’t have to be fearful. Just know it is always, always, always, a hook. The person using the word is manipulating you. That’s the intent when using that specific word in an explanation or copy, plain and simple.
Since you already knew that, and I’ve slapped you with a reminder, let me slap you again for good measure.
There are no shortcuts.
Oh, there may be a better path, a more efficient way of doing things, but no shortcuts. Not if you want anything to last.
What about luck, you ask?
That can happen, sure. You don’t control it, you can’t guarantee it, and it also isn’t a shortcut, it’s…luck.
Now that we have those two aspects of reality out of the way, take a moment and shake the stress off. It’s time to take you on a mental ride you won’t soon forget.
Can You Guarantee Your Own Success?
Strange question to start our conversation?
Not really.
Oh, and the answer to that question is an unequivocal ‘yes’.
You can guarantee your own success, and you should be promising this to yourself every day of your creative life.
How can you do this? Simple.
Start with the end in mind.
When I was training to be a bodyguard, they trained me to approach every conflict with the end in mind. The absolute resolution that I was going to get home to my wife and children, no matter what. It forced me to see every confrontation from a new perspective.
Physical contact was no longer ‘self-defense,' it was damage control. Avoidance, negotiations, body language, and positioning became critical skills. My first line of defense became the actual self-defense. I also developed a complete disregard for personal property. If a life was at stake, anything but an innocent was fair game to be used, abused and destroyed if it helped me do my job.
I decided not to take that path in the end. Learning about myself and what I could do opened my eyes. My very existence changed in how I viewed the world and interacted with those in it. My personality transformed forever.
The same goes for writing.
When I started shaping the Wanted Hero story in 2004, I started with the focus. How I wanted readers to feel about my comic books. My ‘going home no matter what’ became my ‘what does the story have to be to make it into the mind and heart of a reader’?
Did it work?
Virtually everyone I talked to in 2004 said what I wanted to do, making a traditional comic into a ¢.97 downloadable PDF, wouldn’t work. I’d never sell any. People wouldn’t be interested. I wouldn’t make any money. Blah-blah-blah. That pessimism doubled when I said I’d learn HTML and build the site myself in a world where programmers held the world hostage.
One year later, I had readers in 60 countries. Over 750,000 visitors came to my website, and I had a message board with 15,000 active members. Years before the invention of the Kindle, I earned a full-time living by creating comics alone.
Now that I’m writing these stories as fantasy novels, I ask the same questions during that process:
- How can I start with the ending in mind?
- What do I want readers to feel when they read my stories?
- What do I want readers to take away with them?
- What makes readers talk about the stories they read?
- What makes a reader share the books they read?
- What makes readers come back to a series?
Answering those questions provides a roadmap to success. Then I apply that to the stories.
The View To Consider
The point of this article is to help you shift your views. To change the words you use, specifically about yourself, because words matter. Words have power.
When we use the wrong words, we train our minds and skew our perspectives to accept lies.
Lies about ourselves.
Lies abut our work, and the things we want to bring into this world.
When you start with the end in mind, you take something that may seem “impossible” and transform it into “probable”.
Your success goes from ‘if’…. to ‘when’.
…and that, my friend, if you will remain consistent and not give up, is a guarantee.
I have to go for now, but I want to continue this conversation soon. There are some specific details I’d like to propose to you and show you how you’re perfectly aligned to succeed as a writer.
Until then, keep writing.
If you want to find that success, it’s the best decision you’ve made this year.
I guarantee it.
What 'lies' have you been telling yourself that may be holding you back from success? I want to know!
* * * * * *
About Jaime
Jaime Buckley is a cartoonist and best-selling author.
More importantly, he’s a loving husband and father of 13 children. Since 1986 he’s worked for famous authors and TV personalities, and illustrated for hundreds of new authors across the genre spectrum. If you can think of a creative project or marketing strategy, Jaime's likely done it… but always finds his greatest success by being himself. You can find Jaime writing fantasy for readers on LifeOfFiction.com and sharing his parenting antics through kidCLANS.com.
Check out Jaime's current books:
Top image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
14 comments on “The Power of Certainty-A Reality Where Success Is Inevitable”
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Oddly enough, I AM certain of success - just not sure when it will occur. Hope it's while I'm still alive - I'd like to enjoy it.
Brilliant, Alicia!
...then the next best step is to focus on carving away anything you can find standing in the way of that success.
Exposure? See what conversations you can start, or connections you can make with word-of-mouth resources.
Branding? Find out what your readers relate to, what they are saying about you, and customize/test a logo that will promote you while you sleep.
Wish you the very best of success!
An excellent article. Manifesting success isn’t a new concept but it’s a mindset that can be difficult to master. Thanks for the reminder. You might consider writing a book specifically for authors or a blog to remind us that our words are important. A single book will paint hundreds of pictures (scenes) in a readers mind. To be an artist of words is magical. And with the talent comes the responsibility of choosing our words with care and manifesting success to share the magic with the world. Thanks again.
Thank you, Veronica, and I appreciate your views.
Not sure if I could think of myself as an "artist of words"...but rather someone who is carving away the negatives I've attached to myself over time.
It's crazy how hard it is to shield ourselves, or to detach and heal from hard words, labels and accusations from others. Whether that be in a creative realm or in relationships, words help form the lens we see life through.
Happy to write articles on this, but I'll leave any book to those smarter than me.
Thank you for sharing =)
When I get overwhelmed (usually because some unplanned event upends my schedule & my life), I start thinking, "I can't do this." This used to send me into a downward spiral, but I've learned to recognize it as a lie. That pulls me up and I re-orient. And while I write my books with the end in mind, I hadn't thoughtabout my business goals and life goals with the end in mind until now. Thank you for that, Jamie.
Oh Lynette, Lynette, Lynette....I relate 100%.
One of the biggest dilemma's to my own success, was my fixation with two subjects: fiction and family.
You'd think they would, or could be connected (in my own mind they do), but try as I might, they destroyed each other on the same website. To make matters worse, I'll write fantasy books or comics and have a pull towards teaching parents and families that must be satisfied, or I can't write fiction after a time.
Same thing goes for writing non-fiction about family/parenting. I make only so much progress, then I have to unload my creative brain.
Almost two months ago, I had a huge anxiety attack, my mind screaming, "I cannot DO this!! It's TOO MUCH!"
Then I looked forward in my life. Started taking the time before I fell asleep each night, visualizing not IF, but WHEN I would have 200,000 subscribers across my three platforms, with 50,000 of them paying only $7/month to:
• Learn from my parenting experience/hearing family stories of success, or;
• Consume ongoing fantasy stories and exclusive artwork from my Wanted Hero world, or;
• Listen to powerful conversations with my son about everything under the sun, in an anti-SJW perspective.
The very moment I started thinking that way, the stress vanished. I KNEW I could do this, I just had to be organized and focused. So that's exactly what I started practicing.
Bought a planner, mapped out what to do for the first six months, then got to work. Three Substacks, with articles and three podcasts to run every week.
Hard? Yes.
Doable? Absolutely.
You know what's happened? My mind seems to be creating in waves.
Today, just before answering your comment, I scheduled six weeks of family/parenting articles...all done since 5 am this morning. That includes two podcast episodes.
I'm about to take a nap, yeah. But wow -- this is working SO well!
So good on you, Lynette -- keep going! It's not only possible, but probable, when we look at life as an opportunity, not a barrier. Take life and make it work for you creatively.
=)
Hi Jaime,
What a brilliant way to think about the roadmap to success. See the ending as such!
The questions you pose are great.
Thanks for the uplifting post!
You are very welcome, Ellen.
...hope it helped you in some way =)
Ha! I was just starting a pity party and read this. Thanks for the encouragement.
Hey -- nothing wrong with taking a moment to catch your breath.
...and inhaling a 1/2 gallon of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.
Just don't STAY there.
Mine are usually 'anger' parties. Sometimes at those who try to tear me down, but the truth is that being mad at anyone is fruitless and I've come to believe....stupid.
All I hurt is myself.
That's when the anger parties turned inward. Still not good, UNTIL I shaped them into check-lists instead of rage.
• What should I have done, instead?
• What could I have avoided?
• How can I better prepare myself for such a challenge next time?
• What can I learn, so this experience wasn't a waste of my life?
• Is there another perspective I should consider?
• What am I responsible and accountable for...and what do I need to let go of/ignore?
Answering those questions equipped me in flippin' armor to meet the same challenge next time.
Remember, Diane,...get up at least one more time than you're knocked down. That's how you "win".
...maybe.
...eventually.
(wink)
I love this post, Jaime! And I'm shamelessly stalking you to learn more of your secrets! I have far too many lies that I tell myself on a daily (hourly) basis. Still working on that!
The greatest key I can give anyone and everyone, is to tell the TRUTH.
Speak the truth.
Seek the truth.
Only accept the truth.
...it'll literally save your life and provide an unfailing mechanism for survival and success.
Yup, the TRUTH will set you free,...but only if you know WHAT the actual TRUTH IS...
Sigh. That's so TRUE.
(wink)