Almost every morning during the warm weather months, and after my coffee and quiet time, I take a walk around my neighborhood. As I head out my back door, around to the front of the house, and down the steps to the sidewalk, I look around in our landscaping beds for weeds. When I see weeds, I pull them up and drop them on the sidewalk. Then, on my way back inside the house after my walk, I pick up the weeds and throw them away.
One morning, a few weeks ago, I found a bunch of clover growing behind a holly bush alongside the front my our house. I don’t know why I thought this, but I said to myself, “I’m going to find a four-leaf clover.” When I reached down to yank the clover roots out of the ground, no joke, there is was – a four-leaf clover.
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I tell you this story because it made me realize something in a very simple way – whatever we believe or think we will find.
This is true in all parts of my life. Look for the good that your son does, the hard work of a client, or the kindness of your editor, and guess what – it’s there. Look for the bad in the way your husband loads the dishwasher or the sulky in your teenager, and low and behold, that’s there too.
Before I became a dietitian, wife, personal chef, entrepreneur, mom, or writing coach, and before I wrote my first cookbook, edited the Joy of Cooking, or owned a home, I had to believe that I could do it. I didn’t have proof from past experience that I could do it and I couldn’t wait for the book or the business to appear before I believed – I had to believe first.
Every day I still practice believing without concrete proof or evidence. I ask myself what I need to believe to reach my goals. What does someone who has a podcast with a full-coaching schedule and book deals and mastermind groups who has time for exercise, healthy cooking, and eating, and her family, friends, and community thinks and believes? I write these beliefs down. I read them and practice believing them. I feel inspired and motivated. From this place, I then take action and get busy recording podcast episodes, coaching clients, facilitating mastermind, generating ideas, writing the words, buying the ingredients, cooking the meals, and showing up in my life, all driven by the thoughts and beliefs I practice and think.
Here’s the good news: this believing stuff isn’t just reserved just for me. It’s available to you as well. You too can have anything you want in your life as long as you practice believing. In fact, the results we all have in our lives right now are a reflection of past thoughts and beliefs. If we like the results we have, I suspect those results are driven by actions that stem from positive thoughts and beliefs. If we have less than stellar results, then the same is true: less than stellar thoughts and beliefs.
My hope today is that you take a look at your beliefs. I want us all to believe that four-leaf clovers are out there just waiting to be discovered – waiting for us to start practicing believing and thinking that we can find them.
Where to start? Here are a few questions we can use to examine and observe beliefs/thoughts, feelings, actions, and results:
- What do I currently think and believe about (a situation, person, circumstance) ________________?
- How do my thoughts and beliefs about this circumstance make me feel______________________?
- What actions/words/deeds/inaction did I take as a result of this feeling _____________________?
- What are the results of those actions that I am experiencing in my life right now_______________?
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Cookbook author, editor, and Culinary Dietitian Maggie Green, RDN, LD coaches first-time cookbook authors during the pre-publication phase of writing a cookbook.
Would you like to write a cookbook, but feel alone in the pre-publication phase of writing?
Are you stuck thinking about your cookbook idea or has you project fizzled?
Do you feel overwhelmed with publishing options and the recipes, photography, and publishing process?
I’ve been there. I know first-hand that there’s not a lot of support for first-time cookbook authors who don’t have an agent or a publisher yet. That’s why I started my work as a cookbook writing coach.
Here are a few resources for you as you venture into the world of cookbook writing:
Checklist
An 11-point checklist that helps you answer the question, “Am I Ready to Write a Cookbook?”