Maintain Laser Sharp Focus
Kam Knight is a coach and author of several bestselling books including Concentration: Maintain Laser Sharp Focus & Attention for Stretches of 5 Hours or More. He talks about things like memory, concentration, and productivity.
What We Discuss with Kam Knight:
- Kam’s journey into the writing world
- The subconscious need to share your knowledge and experiences
- Why you still need to publish even if you feel what you wrote wasn’t good
- Dealing with impostor’s syndrome and hiding behind a pen name
- Getting feedback from people close to you
- Kam’s thought process behind publishing his books
- Lessons from publishing on Amazon and some great tips
- The power of speaking and networking to launch your book
- Where Kam gets ideas for his books
- Kam’s insights into speed reading
- Some great takeaways from Kam’s book, Concentration
[01:12] Kam’s Journey Into the Writing World
A strong desire. There came a point in his life that Kam felt the strong, overpowering itch to write. His writing wasn’t initially good but he decided to stay with it and he got better over time.
We have this internal need to share our knowledge and experiences. When we’re first born, we’re takers. Then we progress and we still need guidance from people around us in the form of teachers, coaches, and parents. Until we become fully sufficient and no longer need the help of others. There’s this desire to give back or teach what we’ve learned.
[06:25] Overcoming Impostor’s Syndrome and Hiding Behind a Pen Name
Avoiding the fear of rejection. Kam was so initially shy about his work he didn’t want anybody to know about it that he used different pen names to hide behind his books.
One of the downsides of using different pen names is that you won’t be able to get your real name out there.
Getting feedback. There’s this switch that happens. When we know somebody, we tend to be a bit more hard on ourselves when we get some feedback or we think it’s not something as good as we would expect.
[12:25] Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing
Consider the time element. Kam has chosen the self-publishing route for all of his ten books. He learned earlier on how traditional publishing can take too long to be released. He was deciding on whether he should spend a chunk of his time trying to convince somebody that his stuff is good or he could just spend that time self-publishing instead.
Find the perfect platform. At this time, Kindle first came out and self-publishing became much easier. He submitted his manuscript to Amazon and it was up and selling in no time. His next step was to drive traffic to his webpage in order for him to get people to buy and get real-time feedback about his book.
Test the waters. You can write about 30-40 pages long and put it out to test and see if people like it. And if they did, you’d know it’s worth growing and developing.
Do an update anytime. Self-publishing allowed Kam to just edit anytime. You actually don’t have to know about a certain topic. You can later grow it as you also grow personally.
[16:50] How to Make Sure Your Book Stays Relevant
Don’t say what other people are saying. There’s so much repetitive content out there now. People almost copy other people’s content and just put a cover with their name on it and market it for themselves. If you were to talk about a topic that has already been said, write about it in a different way and come from a different angle.
Consider professional speaking. This could be in the form of talking on a podcast or speaking in front of people. Go out and market your book. Speak about it in front of live audiences. Go to different events and just talk to people. Connect with people and ask how you can help them out. Authorship gives you more credibility.
[25:10] How to Manage Ideas for Your Book
Curiosity for self-improvement. Kam writes his book for personal growth and healing and with the goal to grow his awareness. He then records his experiences so he can go back to all of it and figure out which areas can be helpful.
From self-help to helping others. Once he has figured out the things that helped him solve certain areas in his life, he then goes to the next level of communicating this to other people so they can achieve the same success he did.
[27:50] Takeaways from His Book, Speed Reading
One of Kam’s books was Speed Reading. Kam wanted to develop his reading skills in terms of absorbing and understanding more information. He found that looking at the spaces between words lets your mind pick up information without processing it.
Reading is not a natural thing we’re born to do. It’s something humans created so we have to learn it by doing it letter by letter, syllable by syllable, and word by word. Then education stops. We’re not taught that we can actually increase our reading speed and comprehension.
[33:23] Takeaways from His Book, Concentration
Concentration is a very critical skill we can learn. Without it, we can’t do anything else. It’s the key to developing other skills. Develop this skill and you can extend this to all other areas of your life.
Concentration is like taming a wild animal. It’s a battle between where your “unconscious” wants to put attention and where you want to put that attention. By learning the skill, you go inside and rewire your mind in ways that produce concentration naturally.
Self-talk is one of the ways to develop your concentration. These are statements you tell yourself about the changes you want to happen in your life. Create statements of how you like your concentration to be.
Episode Resources:
Know more about Kam Knight on MindLily.com.
Check out Kam’s book on www.mindlily.com/books
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