How to write a book, start a business or change the world in 30 days

Guest blogger John Williams is the author of the best-selling book "Screw Work, Let's Play (How to do what you love & get paid for it)", described by The Sunday Times as "A compelling 10-step escape from corporate life that could spell a rash of resignation letters".

Fired up by the Beyond Chocolate experience, you might now be thinking of other areas of your life you want to make changes to: Perhaps it's time to think about a career change, or to start a business, or launch a campaign, or write a book or blog you've often thought of?
So you've got an idea... but… it’s BIG. Too big.

It requires you to resign from your job. Or it needs a lot of money. Or a whole team of people. Or premises. Or it simply requires more time and energy than you have at the moment.
So what do you do?

Has your answer ’til now been to put your idea back in a drawer and get on with your life? If that’s the case, then it’s time to start doing something different. There are far too many people who have good ideas fading away somewhere at the back of their minds (while someone else has the same idea and goes and makes a success of it).

There’s nothing wrong with having big ideas – a big business, a best-selling book, a national movement, or simply making a full-time living from something you love. It’s a useful skill to be able to take an idea and envision exactly how huge it could become. But… you also need be to able to do the opposite and chunk it down into manageable projects, starting with one you can begin right now.

You can go ‘big bang’ on your idea; go hell for leather and enlist all the people you need, write a business plan and go looking for funding. Or resign from your job and bank everything on your first book being a best-seller. If you’re comfortable with the risk involved, it may be right for you.

For the rest of us, the thought of biting it all off in one chunk is overwhelming. And that’s not helpful if it means we end up doing nothing.

You don’t have to give up on your grand vision of a big business, national fame, or the most common desire – finding a way of making a full time income from something you love doing. You can start small, test it out, improve it, then grow it and scale it towards your original vision.

It requires you to be willing to think creatively. It means being willing to play it out one step at a time – even if you don’t know exactly where it will take you and you can’t yet see how it can make you a full-time income. You’d be surprised how many successful ideas and businesses started out like this! (It’s a lot of fun too)

Here’s how to do it:

Design a 30 day ‘Play Project’ that immerses you in making your idea happen (or at least some part of it).

Since you’re not trying to create your whole vision yet but just a part of it, choose the project to be centred on the bit that’s most exciting to you. If you want to be a public speaker, go and speak, don’t spend the first 30 days building a website for your future speaking career.
Make sure the project produces something you can share – some tangible result, not just 30 days of sitting and googling!

Set a deadline in 30 days’ time to share your result with others – show it to your friends, put it on your blog, tweet or facebook it. Share photos, recordings, videos on youtube. Write about the experience on a blog.

Start doing it – do a little every day if you’re fitting it around your current work, don’t wait for hours of free time to magically open up in your diary

When you complete it, look at how you could build on it to take it further. If it didn’t work out the way you’d hoped, adjust your approach to give you more of the results you want and launch your next Play Project. Each one can build on the results of the last and at the end of every one, you’ll have something real to show for it – the kind of stuff that opens doors to even bigger opportunities.

What will you do?

What do you want to do?

Here are some example play projects to help make it happen.

Do you want to write a book? Write the outline and one chapter. Or… start writing about your topic on a blog. If you want to be a novelist, you might start with a short story. Send it to some friendly readers.

Do you want to be a public speaker? Go to Toastmasters, learn some of the basics and set a deadline to give your first talk of 5-10 minutes at one of the meetings.

Do you have a business idea? Start blogging about the area or the problem you want to help with. Interview people, experiment with possible solutions. If you’re selling your own services, aim to get your first piece of work within 30 days, even if it’s at a reduced fee for a friend or colleague.

Do you want to be a de-clutter consultant or a personal stylist or interior designer? Go and volunteer to do it for a friend first – either for free or for a reduced fee.
If you want to be a standup comic… don’t just go to see standup shows, do a course where you stand up and perform!

If you want to launch a national campaign or change the world, create a Facebook group for your cause and then create an event that people can take part in to build a buzz.

Scary stuff eh? Yes it can be, so make sure you have some support. Ask some supportive friends to help, or join up with others making ideas happen. Or join up with us...
From idea to reality in 30 days

Stop waiting; make your idea happen.

On the 1st October, 200 people will be joining our 30 Day Challenge to do something they love with our support and guidance. Join us!

Learn more about the 30 Day Challenge