The Humbling Experience of Writing a Book by Jonas Salzgeber

The Humbling Experience of Writing a Book by Jonas Salzgeber

Hah, it’s funny when I look back at my writing process.

There’s Jonas who decided to write a book. He had an idea, he had the knowledge and necessary resources, and he had the time and dedication.

But he was clueless. He thought the tough part of writing a book is its content and structure. What to include, and where, and how to bake some marketing into it?

He didn’t think of the writing itself. When I look back, that’s where the struggle got serious. Sure, it takes time and creativity to lay out the book’s structure and content. But getting up every day and sitting down to write? That’s the true challenge.

Writing a book takes strength and perseverance.

I see this motivated young man who tried to prepare the night before. Every night, he wrote down the exact next steps in his journal. He cleaned the writing desk, prepared every tiny little thing neatly. He even WOOPed his writing goals for the next day.

He woke up feeling energized and ready for a good day to write. But the moment he sat down, there was something holding him back. Not the structure, not the words, not the right paragraph. It was his inner resistance monster.

Something inside him was pulling him away from writing. This monster put negative ideas in his head. It told him that he couldn’t write, wasn’t good enough, that the structure sucked, and that he wouldn’t sell a book anyway.

Overcoming this inner resistance was the real writing challenge.

Looking back, I can say that I learned this the hard way. You have to go through this fight between your ears. This inner resistance monster won’t just go away. It will be there every morning when you want to write.

You cannot get rid of this resistance, you have to fight through it.

When I realized this struggle, I started reading Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. Turns out, this inner resistance isn’t unique, it’s something many authors and other creators have to deal with.

Now, why am I telling you all this?

No matter what you’re aspiring to do, there will be difficulties. It will get tough and dirty. And that’s how it’s supposed to be. You will grow stronger if you fight through. You will gain perseverance, humility, and confidence in yourself.

“What is to give light, must endure burning.”

This quote by Viktor Frankl explains it beautifully. Creating something takes strength and perseverance. Even if you have a clear idea in your head, putting it on paper and bringing it to life is the real, humbling challenge.

I’m smiling now.

My first book, The Little Book of Stoicism is out. I’m happy with it even if it’s far from perfect. People perceive it well. And on a personal level, I learned so much in the process that I can confidently say, this was the best thing I’ve done in my life so far.

And by the way, writing a book is one thing, publishing it is again a whole other story. Just as tough and instructive. But let’s leave that to another day.

That’s it. Don’t get discouraged when life hits you. Persevere, fight through, and you’ll come out humbler and much, much stronger.

Thanks for reading.

About the Author

Jonas Salzgeber is the author of The Little Book of Stoicism and writes for a small army of remarkable people at NJlifehacks.com. On his quest to be the best he can be he stumbled upon Stoicism – and got hooked. At the core of this applicable philosophy lies the goal of leading a happy life even (especially) in the face of adversity.

His practical rather than academic writing style helps people with the most important step: to put the wisdom from book page to action. Jonas shares Stoic strategies so people gain back their confidence and feel ready to deal effectively with whatever life throws at them.

Get his book now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Book Depository.