One thing stands between you and becoming an author—you. Only you can remove that obstacle.

How do you do that?

1. Take responsibility for yourself.
2. Commit to becoming an author.
3. Develop the necessary mindsets and habits.

Take Responsibility for Yourself

I know you have lots of reasons for not becoming an author. You believe you don’t have time or have too many other commitments.

Admit it. You made the choice to fill your schedule to the max.

Stop blaming someone or something else!

You said “yes,” or you chose to believe you had no other option but to add more to your schedule. No one else made that choice.

If you made that choice, you can make a different one.

You have the personal freedom and power to free up your schedule, so you allow time to write and publish your work.

Time for What’s Important

Have you ever done something you truly wanted to do or felt was important—despite your busy schedule and over-committed life? For instance, maybe you made time to help a friend in need, binge-watch a Netflix show, weed the garden, or go on vacation.

Admit it. You make time for things that are important to you. And you make excuses about why you can’t do the things that aren’t important (even if you say they are).

Take responsibility for yourself and your choices. When you want to do something, you find a way to do it. When you commit to something, you get it done. When something means enough to you, you move through the fear and do it anyway.

Reasons are Excuses

You know as well as I do that your “reasons” are thinly disguised “excuses.” Once you admit that fact, you take one massive stride toward authorship.

When you ‘fess up to your excuses, you admit you can write and publish—if you choose to do so. You realize you chose to focus on your made-up reasons not to write and publish.

Take responsibility for your actions and results. When you do so, you can no longer make excuses.

You realize nothing stops you from writing and publishing a book. You can become an author…if you take responsibility for yourself and what you must do to reach that goal.

Commit to Authorship

Look honestly at yourself and your life. Your commitments will be apparent.

Your habitual behaviors are the things to which you have committed. So, what are your habits?

If you overeat consistently—even though you say you want to lose 15 pounds, you are committed to overeating and remaining at your current weight.

Suppose you watch two hours of television each night. In that case, even though you could use that time to exercise or write a book, you are committed to watching television for two hours per night.

On the other hand, if you write every day for an hour, you are committed to writing. If you prepare and submit query letters and proposals to literary agents and publishers, you are committed to becoming a published author.

Maybe you don’t habitually do these authorship-related activities; you do other things instead. Then, you aren’t committed to becoming an author. You are committed to those other things.

Self-Integrity Helps You Commit

A commitment is a pledge to a certain course, strategy, or policy or the state of being dedicated to a cause or activity. Yet, many people say they have committed to something and do not follow through on that pledge. Or they say they are committed to an activity, like writing, and then don’t remain dedicated to that activity.

If you want to commit to the course that leads to authorship, you need self-integrity. Someone who is self-integral keeps pledges to themselves.

You may have integrity with others. You promise them something and keep that promise.

However, you may not keep your promises to yourself. That lack of self-integrity makes it difficult—if not impossible—to remain committed to becoming an author.

Up your level of self-integrity, though, and you keep your personal pledge to write and publish your book. It’s that simple.

Commit to being an author. Then, have enough self-integrity to do what you say you will do.

Develop an Author’s Mindset and Habits

The most successful authors have the mindset and habits that help them succeed. Your mindset consists of your thoughts and beliefs. Your habits are the things you do constantly and by rote.

If your mindset and habits don’t support your desire to become an author, it’s time to change them.

How do you know if you need a new mindset and habits? You say you want to be an author, but you aren’t—and you aren’t making progress toward that goal.

Your current level of success is based on your current mindset and habits. You need a new mindset and habits to achieve a new level of success.

An Author’s Mindset

I wrote about mindset and author attitude extensively in The Author Training Manual. Successful authors tend to have positive mindsets. This could include positive thoughts about finding an agent or publisher for your work.

Possibly, you might look at rejection as simply a step toward getting published. Maybe you don’t entertain the possibility of failure. Instead, you focus your attention on becoming an author. You tell yourself this is possible, and you can do it.

An author’s mindset also includes a willingness to do the work required to become published. And you need objectivity and tenacity, which are mental attitudes that help you take action.

An Author’s Habits

Positive thinking might also be a habit; you might write or say affirmations every morning, like “I am an author,” “Agents want to work with me,” or “I am a good writer.”

Authors have the habit of writing consistently. You may develop the habit of writing for two hours every morning after making your coffee. You might also habitually submit work for publication and post on social media to build an audience.

You don’t leave any of these things to chance. Authors schedule such tasks to ensure they take action consistently.

You Control You

In the end, you control you. You can choose to become an author or not.

If you aren’t doing what’s necessary to become an author, remove the obstacles to taking action. They exist within you.

Change yourself, and you change your outcomes. Get out of your own way so you can become an author. It’s as simple as that.

How do you need to get out of your own way? Tell me in a comment below. And, please share this post with a writer who might benefit from reading it.

Photo courtesy of NejroN.