Click the video below to watch, or read the transcript underneath it.
Hello my lovely writers, how are you?
Today I’m talking about how even the most successful writers amongst us are lacking in confidence.
I’ve been watching a movie called Maestro, based on the life of Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia. There’s a scene where a journalist is asking Leonard Bernstein about his career and you can see Leonard sitting in his chair feeling angsty.
Even Leonard Bernstein lacks confidence
By this time in the movie, Leonard Bernstein has written West Side Story, On The Town and various other things. He’s also been conducting at the Philharmonic for a decade by then, but he’s still sitting there angsty, saying, ‘I haven’t done enough. It’s not good enough. I should have done more by now. I should have done better by now.’
These words really resonated with me because I hear this a lot from writers I work with as they share their feelings of never quite having done enough, never quite being enough.
As confident as Leonard Bernstein was on the outside, inside there was still a lot of insecurity and a lot of not being at ease with himself. He felt inferior and compared himself to others, always thinking he should be doing better and striving for something more. He couldn’t see he’d written some of the best music of his generation, if not the best ever.
I see this in my writers who are looking to write a book. They want to write a novel, or non-fiction – whatever it might be – but they never feel they’re good enough. Their own feelings of insecurity around their writing really come to the forefront and it’s because they’re not doing the work on themselves from the inside.
What matters is what you feel on the inside
I want to emphasise to you that it doesn’t matter what you write and it doesn’t matter whether you sell a million copies or ten copies of your book.
What really matters is how you feel about that book on the inside. You’re always going to have success if you feel validated by yourself, if you feel that internal validation. Internal validation is something you must work on if you don’t already feel it.
I know writers who have already published, either traditionally or self-published, and they’re doing well but they do not see it and they do not feel it. You’ve got to work from the inside out.
If you recognise that in you, I encourage you to grab my 21 Days of Writing Inspiration. These are short little videos that arrive in your inbox every day for 21 days to help you feel motivated, feel encouraged, and help you start to build that self-belief you need if you want to thrive in the writing world.
Click the link to get your 21 Days of Writing Inspiration.
Emma xx
Emma Dhesi
Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.
She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.
Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.
Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!
