I published a book that a few people hate. Maybe hate is a strong word. Maybe it would be better to say they just don’t get it.
The book, as you may know, is titled You Got This! A motivational guide for achieving your goals. It has a blurb on the back cover about how motivating it is. The front cover is a big blue hand coming in for a high-five. Which leads many readers to be prepared to sit down for a nice, enjoyable read of just another motivational book that they will likely not finish and probably not utilize.
I wrote You Got This! to change all of that. And some people got upset. Upset enough to take the time to write a scathing review. Ouch.
To that end, I had to wonder, when people grab a book what are they hoping to achieve? It seems that with fiction you want to escape or dream a bit. With non-fiction the plan should not be to escape or dream. The plan should be to learn and to actively make changes in your life and perception as a result of reading that book. Perhaps set goals, but never only dreams. The challenge comes into play when people treat non-fiction books the same way they treat fiction books. Which I saw as a very common occurrence. People were reading non-fiction and dreaming about a better, improved life without actually taking any real action to achieve that end for themselves. This was an opportunity to break the pattern for some people.
It may have worked. Though at the expense of a few negative reviews. The readers of this fine book will have some initial emotion. Hopefully good, as in they get the joke. Other emotions are fine too. As long as the long term gain from reading this book is to realize that you do not need a book for motivation. The same way you cannot read a book about moving your right ring finger. You just move your finger. You got this. Though you do need to actually move your right finger.
To fill you in, the book is filled with big, bold letters stating in as simple terms as possible, You Got This! on every single page. 250ish times it clearly states You Got This! If that won’t motivate you, I’m not sure what will. The art becomes bizarre until you see the beauty on the last page. That last page is where the juicy steak hits your salivating mouth. At that point you either freak out like a member of PETA realizing you are eating a steak or you savor the flavor that a perfectly grilled steak was meant to invoke. Pure, unadulterated joy that only something as simple as this can bring.
For fun I even had a video made to illustrate what the book is all about. I also have a contest for people to yell, “You Got This!” in a video that they tag in.
You go on to remember the book, laugh about it with friends, maybe hate the author, but deep down inside, you know the author is right. You do, indeed got this. You just need to get to work.
James Kademan is a Business Coach for Draw In Customers Business Coachingin Madison, Wisconsin. When he isn’t writing books, he is busy guiding entrepreneurs to success in business and beyond. He blogs successfully to the world at www.drawincustomers.com. If you are considering hiring a business coach, take a moment to call James at (608)210-2221. You may have some challenges, but you got this! Now get to work.
