Passion is the fuel of success. So when you’re driven by something you love to do—your talent and energy always brings with it fulfillment.
Take the case of one of my self-published clients, Steven R. Adams, a Cincinnati-based criminal defense attorney who has competed four times in The Ironman Triathlon World Championship—the most treacherous one-day endurance race in the world.
To get through it, as Steve notes, “You have to swim like you’re gonna drown, ride that bike like you stole it, and run like they are chasing you!” And so he did.
Years later, when Steve came to me to write his first book, he wanted to incorporate the same lessons he’d learned as an athlete into a unique system for showing young lawyers how to become successful solo practitioners.
The result: Practice Law Like An IRONMAN, Unbeatable Checklists for any Lawyer Creating and Building a Solo or Small Practice, a 300-page guide climbing the charts on Amazon.
It all started when Steve, a natural promoter with a zany sense of humor, flew to New York to meet me with two heavy spiral-bound notebooks. There were 1,000 pages of ideas he had gleaned from landmark books in the field of business and self-help.
My mission was to synthesize all that material, interview him, and turn it into a book that would capture a succinct inspiring message for thousands of lawyers.
What was totally unique about Steve’s vision was that, instead of a technical narrative tome, he wanted to produce a checklist book, an easily-digested step-by-step guide. This format allows the reader to think in bullet points, to stay focused on a logical sequence of steps to attain each goal.
Although I know almost nothing about law—other than paying my lawyer when needed—the challenge is one of the gifts of being a ghostwriter. You take on an assignment, and throw yourself into it, riding a steep learning curve to the end.
Like any Ironman, you have to set a goal and stick with it no matter what. Creating a book from an initial vision is like an athletic competition–it takes focus, energy, discipline. But it’s always worth it.
