Retrain Your Voice.

Today’s Marketing Cookie is telling you that you should write a book, but what to say?

Your voice is powerful and will shape the world in ways you might not even realize. Your ideas inspire change, spark innovation, and build meaningful connections. Your unique perspective enriches the larger conversation, influencing and encouraging others. Your story truly makes a difference, resonating with people and leaving a lasting impact.

Do you believe any of that? 

Maybe your inner voice is telling you something like this:

"My voice isn’t anything special, and it won’t be shaping the world. I can't even keep a houseplant alive, so I doubt my ideas will inspire change, spark innovation, or make meaningful connections. Even my cat ignores me, so my perspective clearly isn’t interesting enough to enrich any larger conversation or influence others. My story? Yeah, it’s kinda boring, and people will just think it’s all stuff they’ve heard before."

No? So, you do have a worthwhile opinion to share? 

Well, perhaps your inner voice is whispering something like this:

"I can’t write a book. I wouldn’t know where to start. My grammar is a mess, and don’t even get me started on speling. Making the chapters flow? Sounds like a nightmare. Who has time to get their point across when I can’t even organize my desk? Plus, I’d probably end up with a hundred pages of repetitive rambling. Did I already say that? And let’s face it, my computer is just one crash away from taking all my brilliant, half-baked ideas down with it."

Whatever that inner voice is saying, is it really you? 

Here is something you can say back:

“Alright, let’s get something straight. You’re not the real me. You’re just a stream of negative thoughts, so I’m calling you ‘the critic’ until you change your tone. When you start up with your negativity, I’ll counter you with affirmations that I’ve written down and hung on my monitor where I can see them every day. You may tell me ‘I can’t,’ but I will say ‘I can.’ You may say ‘you’ll never,’ but I will answer ‘I will.’”

As you retrain your inner voice to stop using lame excuses and start offering motivation and to quit with the self-degradation to more words of encouragement, you’ll begin hearing a new, more confident and helpful voice. When "the critic" becomes more supportive, you can change its name to "the companion" and finally say to your inner voice, as today’s fortune does, "You have a charming way with words and should write a book."