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Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business
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and life you love. And if you want a business and life you hate, turn this off right now
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because I am very irritating to you. This is Q&A Tuesday, that means we have Q’s and
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we have A’s. And today’s question comes from a beautiful woman named Eileen and she
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writes:
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“Hi Marie and team. Each week I turn on MarieTV and, I must say, every episode is
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an eye opener. Thanks for all the inspiration.” You’re welcome. “Here’s my Q. I’ve
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recently discovered how much I love writing. It’s a way to share my knowledge with other
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people, but as a designer I’ve never had any education in writing, so often when I’m
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writing an article I’ll start thinking who am I to share this knowledge? Who am I to
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pretend I know it all? And who am I to write this article? These thoughts can make me feel
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tired, take away my enthusiasm, and turn it into fear. Is there anything I can do to make
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these thoughts go away? Do you have tips that I can practice the next time I write an article?
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Thank you so much, lots of love from the Netherlands, Eileen.”
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Great question. Whether you’re a beginner or you’re a more seasoned pro, I think all
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of us can have that thought. You know, who am I to write this? That’s called resistance
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and it’s probably why Ernest Hemingway drank so much. You know what, he probably need this
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MarieTV.
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I see three things in your question and, yes, I have a tip for each.
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First let’s cover the insecurity that you have because you’re not a trained writer.
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Well, you’ve got to know something, neither am I. I am a writer because I write. I’ve
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never actually had any formal training, I’ve just been doing it for years. And when I first
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started, I gotta tell you, I was pretty darn bad. But there was one thought that really
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helped me out that I wanna share with you right now.
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Writing is just talking in text form. And most of us don't ever get talker’s block.
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Right? When we’ve got something to say, we just say it. So that’s tip number one.
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I want you to think about writing as just talking in text form and write how you talk.
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Second thing I want to address is this destructive association that you have between writing
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an article and that meaning you’re a know it all. That’s the worst idea ever if you
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want to create anything and share it with the world. Look, the people that we trust
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the most are people that are just honest about their learnings and their experiences, they
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give us research and statistics when it matters, and, of course, they cite their resources.
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So when you share something in the form of, “Hey, look, here’s something great I learned
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and I think you’d love to know it too,” just say that. It’s awesome. And don’t
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ever pretend to know it all, because you don't. None of us do. Instead, use tip number two,
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which is the LSC method. It stands for learn, share, and credit.
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So when you learn something if you wanna share about it, that’s awesome. If it was based
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on your own experience, that’s all you gotta do. But if you learn something from somewhere
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else, maybe another author, a website, a research study, just cite your sources. That’s all
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you’ve gotta do. So this way you’re not like, “Hey look, I invented this. These
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are all my ideas.” You’re like, “Hey look, I found something cool for you and I
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really think you’d appreciate it and here’s why.”
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Finally, let’s address the real heart of this. You said that you love writing and when
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you love doing something and it brings you energy and you wanna do it more, you should
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do it more. That means it’s one of your gifts, it’s one of your strengths, and you
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never know, it may be one of the reasons that you’re here on earth.
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Think about it this way: if you don't share all of these ideas in your writing, you’re
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actually keeping your gifts from all of us. Another way that I like to say it is you’re
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stealing from those who really need you most. So remember this last tip and, yes, it’s
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a tweetable.
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When you’re afraid to write, don't think, “Who am I to say this?” but, “Who am
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I not to say this?”
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That was my A to your Q, please let us know how it goes. Now I would love to hear from
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you. Does the fear of sounding like a know-it-all ever stop you? Got any more tips or tricks
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you’d love to share?
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As always, the best conversations happen after the episode over at MarieForleo.com, so head
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on over there, get those little fingers moving, and leave a comment now.
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Did you like this video? If so, subscribe to our channel and we would be so appreciative
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if you shared this video with your friends. And if you want even more awesome resources
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to create a business and life that you love, plus some personal insights from me that I
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only talk about in email, come on over to MarieForleo.com and make sure you sign up
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for email updates.
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Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special
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gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll catch you next time
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on MarieTV.