Have you ever heard the quote, “what got you here won’t get you there?”
There’s a 2007 book by Marshall Goldsmith with this title. But the principle has been around for a lot longer. “What got you here won’t get you there,” is the more sophisticated, older cousin of “dress for the job you want, not the job you have.”
The idea is that the unique set of skills you have cultivated and that has resulted in the success you’re enjoying today is not the same set of skills you need to reach the next level.
I think about this principle whenever I find myself overthinking something. When you’re stuck, whether it’s with your career, your business, or your business book, what’s required to move forward is a new way of thinking.
As a business book author, you’re a Big Idea Expert. Thinking is how you butter your bread. So it’s easy to believe you can think your way out of any challenge. And you can. But often you need to think smarter, not harder. So how do you shift to a new way of thinking instead of just thinking harder and longer within the same patterns?
Let’s look at five ways authorpreneurs overthink their business books and what you can do to cultivate a new way of thinking and move beyond the sticky point.
1. Writer’s Block
In my book, I have a whole chapter about the obstacles to writing. There I discuss writer’s block (in addition to other overthinking challenges like perfectionism, fear, imposter feelings, and overwhelm) because it’s often the first thing that comes to mind whenever we consider obstacles to writing.
What is writer’s block? It’s most often described as a feeling of paralysis. That whiny little “I don’t know what to write” voice that pops up whenever you stare at that smug blinky cursor. We don’t often dig beneath this initial feeling, before getting up to rearrange the books on our shelf or listen to another episode of The Telepathy Tapes.
But I believe we give writer’s block way more power than it deserves. I’ve even been known to argue that writer’s block isn’t a real thing (I know that sounds like gaslighting). When I drill down on my writer’s block (yes, it happens to me too!), I find that other mindset challenges are masquerading as writer’s block.
In other words, it’s not that I can’t write. It’s that I haven’t done enough thinking, and what I’m actually experiencing is ideator’s block. Or I’m hesitating because of fear or imposter feelings. Or the idea is simply not ready to emerge from its cocoon.
It’s easy to overthink writer’s block. We might shift to reading or researching (or worse, reading about writing) when we think we don’t know what to write. This is a trap. Before we even realize it, we’ve spent our whole designated writing time reading.
What works?
The best thing you can do to avoid overthinking here is to start writing. Remind yourself how much thinking happens during the process of writing, apply your fingers to your keyboard, and start writing absolutely anything that comes to mind.
If you’re really struggling, set a timer and tell yourself you can get up after 5 minutes. Once you get into it, you’ll probably realize you have more to write.
2. I Have a Big Idea, But I Don’t Know the Angle
This is a bigger barrier to writing your business book than writer’s block. This is an extreme case of ideator’s block. When you have an idea, but you don’t know what side you want to take, you don’t have a point of view (POV), and you need to figure it out before you can make much progress.
Sure, you can get away with following my earlier advice to just start writing for a little while—in fact, you can write a lot of words without knowing where you’re headed. But at a certain point, you’ll need to figure out the narrative arc.
What works?
One way to move beyond this stuck point is to turn to your AI assistant (I prefer Claude because all of your chats remain private, unless you choose to share them with other Claude users. In other words, Claude isn’t trained on your inputs).
While I don’t recommend using AI to brainstorm for you or write rough drafts for you (it’s important that you retain agency when writing a book), I do think it can be a helpful brainstorming partner.
Here’s what I recommend:
- Record yourself talking about your book for 10 minutes. Speak about whatever comes to mind. If doing so feels awkward, ask a friend to have a conversation with you and record the conversation.
- Take the transcript from that recording and drop it into Claude.
- Then do some roleplaying with Claude. Give your AI assistant some instructions about who you are writing the book for and what role you want it to play.
- Ask your AI assistant to give you a few possible angles and see how you feel about them.
- Don’t give up! Continue roleplaying until you know the angle. Feel free to repeat the process as many times as needed.
3. I’ve Done Too Much Research
Too much research can definitely lead to overthinking. I always recommend separating the research from the writing. I also recommend writing as much as you can—after you know your angle—before doing any research.
Just as you want to retain agency when working with an AI assistant, you want to retain agency when researching. You can only retain agency if you know what you think about your book idea.
I understand the temptation to read around when you’re trying to figure out what you think or when you’re writing a section of your book, where you don’t feel as confident. For example, I did a lot of research about book marketing when writing the third part of my book because I’m not a book marketing expert.
But there’s a danger that others’ opinions will influence your own in ways that may even be hard for you to track. Reading too much can also cloud your thinking leading to confusion and second-guessing.
What works?
Write first, then do the research. Here’s how: Write until you have a solid big picture idea sketched out. Make sure you have at least a high-level outline (chapter topics and a few bullet points). Write what you feel confident saying. And leave notes for yourself about where you want to do more research, find a citation, or look for a statistic to support your POV. After you’ve written as much as you can, do the research to fill in those gaps. Then adjust as needed.
When I was researching book marketing, I didn’t go in blindly. I roughly knew what I thought and that gave me a filter through which I could read others’ thoughts.
4. I Have Written 85% of My Draft, But I Just Can’t Finish
Oof. This is a tough one. I’ve been here with many clients, and I’ve abandoned my own book projects that I couldn’t get across the finish line. Next to starting, finishing may be the hardest challenge you’ll face as an authorpreneur. It sucks!
Getting a draft to 85% and not knowing how to wrap things up is most definitely the result of overthinking. But you can push through and finish your book by shifting your mindset—remember, “what got you here won’t get you there.”
What works?
Sometimes we get stuck because we obsess over finding the perfect ending. We think we need to find the story that ties everything together with a neat little bow. So, the first thing to do is give yourself permission to write an imperfect ending.
Then, go back and reread your introduction. The best endings circle back to themes first raised in the introduction. Relax! It’s okay for your conclusion to be really short. You can even close simply by repeating the big lessons or themes.
If you can stop fretting over the ending and get to what feels like a complete draft, you’ll feel better. That’s your goal!
Remember: You can fix absolutely anything in the edit. Once you have a complete draft, it’s time to put on your editor’s hat. This shifts you into big picture thinking. Often, this simple shift will shake things up and suddenly you’ll know just how you want the ending to go—it’s like a hack for your brain. But you can’t get here without finishing your messy draft. So get ‘er done!
5. I Have a Book Idea, But I Don’t Know How It Ties Into My Business Strategy
It’s reasonable to be stuck here. In fact, if you are stuck at this point, I don’t recommend starting your book until you figure out how it ties into your business strategy (unless you don’t need or want to write a business book, in which case, feel free to write whatever you want).
It might be tempting to do a bunch of mental gymnastics to shoehorn your book idea into your business strategy. If it feels forced, though, you’re probably on the wrong track.
The most important reason to write a book that ties into your business strategy is that this will keep you moving forward through the hard parts. If you decide to write a book that doesn’t align with your business goals, it will be easier for you to rationalize deprioritizing your book.
What works?
Instead of shoehorning your book idea into your business strategy, try backing into your book idea. What do you do every day in your business? Try writing down everything you do that counts as work for one whole week. Then consider what gives you the most energy on this list and try writing about why it energizes you.
If an idea floats to the top, that may be your book idea. If nothing comes up, continue reflecting. It’s also worth asking yourself if your business strategy needs to shift. Keep an open mind and allow your idea to come to you.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re almost finished with your business book or just getting started finding your idea and angle, there are many ways to overthink the process (I’ve barely scratched the surface). But if you recognize when you are sliding into overthinking, you can shift to move beyond the sticky point.
Image by wayhomestudio on Freepik.