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  • Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business

  • and life you love. And if you want a business and life you hate, turn this off right now

  • because I am very irritating to you. This is Q&A Tuesday, that means we have Q’s and

  • we have A’s. And today’s question comes from a beautiful woman named Eileen and she

  • writes:

  • Hi Marie and team. Each week I turn on MarieTV and, I must say, every episode is

  • an eye opener. Thanks for all the inspiration.” Youre welcome. “Here’s my Q. I’ve

  • recently discovered how much I love writing. It’s a way to share my knowledge with other

  • people, but as a designer I’ve never had any education in writing, so often when I’m

  • writing an article I’ll start thinking who am I to share this knowledge? Who am I to

  • pretend I know it all? And who am I to write this article? These thoughts can make me feel

  • tired, take away my enthusiasm, and turn it into fear. Is there anything I can do to make

  • these thoughts go away? Do you have tips that I can practice the next time I write an article?

  • Thank you so much, lots of love from the Netherlands, Eileen.”

  • Great question. Whether youre a beginner or youre a more seasoned pro, I think all

  • of us can have that thought. You know, who am I to write this? That’s called resistance

  • and it’s probably why Ernest Hemingway drank so much. You know what, he probably need this

  • MarieTV.

  • I see three things in your question and, yes, I have a tip for each.

  • First let’s cover the insecurity that you have because youre not a trained writer.

  • Well, youve got to know something, neither am I. I am a writer because I write. I’ve

  • never actually had any formal training, I’ve just been doing it for years. And when I first

  • started, I gotta tell you, I was pretty darn bad. But there was one thought that really

  • helped me out that I wanna share with you right now.

  • Writing is just talking in text form. And most of us don't ever get talker’s block.

  • Right? When weve got something to say, we just say it. So that’s tip number one.

  • I want you to think about writing as just talking in text form and write how you talk.

  • Second thing I want to address is this destructive association that you have between writing

  • an article and that meaning youre a know it all. That’s the worst idea ever if you

  • want to create anything and share it with the world. Look, the people that we trust

  • the most are people that are just honest about their learnings and their experiences, they

  • give us research and statistics when it matters, and, of course, they cite their resources.

  • So when you share something in the form of, “Hey, look, here’s something great I learned

  • and I think you’d love to know it too,” just say that. It’s awesome. And don’t

  • ever pretend to know it all, because you don't. None of us do. Instead, use tip number two,

  • which is the LSC method. It stands for learn, share, and credit.

  • So when you learn something if you wanna share about it, that’s awesome. If it was based

  • on your own experience, that’s all you gotta do. But if you learn something from somewhere

  • else, maybe another author, a website, a research study, just cite your sources. That’s all

  • youve gotta do. So this way youre not like, “Hey look, I invented this. These

  • are all my ideas.” Youre like, “Hey look, I found something cool for you and I

  • really think you’d appreciate it and here’s why.”

  • Finally, let’s address the real heart of this. You said that you love writing and when

  • you love doing something and it brings you energy and you wanna do it more, you should

  • do it more. That means it’s one of your gifts, it’s one of your strengths, and you

  • never know, it may be one of the reasons that youre here on earth.

  • Think about it this way: if you don't share all of these ideas in your writing, youre

  • actually keeping your gifts from all of us. Another way that I like to say it is youre

  • stealing from those who really need you most. So remember this last tip and, yes, it’s

  • a tweetable.

  • When youre afraid to write, don't think, “Who am I to say this?” but, “Who am

  • I not to say this?”

  • That was my A to your Q, please let us know how it goes. Now I would love to hear from

  • you. Does the fear of sounding like a know-it-all ever stop you? Got any more tips or tricks

  • you’d love to share?

  • As always, the best conversations happen after the episode over at MarieForleo.com, so head

  • on over there, get those little fingers moving, and leave a comment now.

  • Did you like this video? If so, subscribe to our channel and we would be so appreciative

  • if you shared this video with your friends. And if you want even more awesome resources

  • to create a business and life that you love, plus some personal insights from me that I

  • only talk about in email, come on over to MarieForleo.com and make sure you sign up

  • for email updates.

  • Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special

  • gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll catch you next time

  • on MarieTV.

Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business

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