Tips For Aspiring Authors | STOP Wasting Time This Way

About this video

Dale interviews magician and creativity expert Adam Wilber — full-time husband and father, inventor, keynote speaker, and general manager of a large online magic retailer — about how he found time to write and publish his polished self-published book on creativity, a process that took almost three years from idea to fruition. Alongside a 50–60 hour work week and performing keynotes and corporate shows, Wilber reclaimed otherwise wasted time: he recorded his writing while driving, using Post-it notes on the dashboard with chapters or key points to prompt him, accepting that voice recordings need heavy editing afterwards; he also used travel time and his alone time at night, typically from 10:00 p.m. until about 2:00–2:30 in the morning, sometimes staying up until 4:00 or 5:00 when in a groove. He replaced music and audiobooks with focused book work in every free moment. Because he has very severe dyslexia, he could not edit the book himself, so he paid good money for a good editor and relied on trusted people for editing, layout, and design, arguing that cutting corners becomes very apparent in something you give to the world as your brand and image.

Key takeaways

• Stop wasting dead time: Wilber dictated his book while driving, using dashboard Post-it notes listing chapters and key points as prompts.
• Travel time and late-night hours (roughly 10:00 p.m. to 2:00–2:30 a.m.) were his main writing windows alongside a 50–60 hour job.
• The book took almost three years from idea to fruition, sustained by using every free moment instead of music or audiobooks.
• Voice-dictated drafts require substantial editing afterwards, but they turn ideas that would be forgotten into material you can edit down.
• Do not cut corners on production: with severe dyslexia he paid for a top editor and trusted people for layout and design, since corner-cutting shows in your brand.

Episode details: published April 20, 2018 · 4:18 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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