How to Write a Book That Matters
“You don’t need to be original, but you have to go through your life, you know, distill certain truths that work for you, and then see your mission.” — Yuri Kruman
Yuri Kruman was born in the Soviet Union and became an Orthodox Jew in a place where religion is illegal. He has been an immigrant twice, is college educated, and has written nine books, yet he still felt like he started his journey with zero life skills. This dichotomy led him to be curious about the conversations happening in his personal and business worlds as he worked hard to understand the chaos in his life.
In this episode of “Authors Who Lead,” I talk with Yuri about his book, Be Your Own Commander In Chief: The Authoritative Guide to Creating a Life of Clarity, Meaning, Impact & Success in Times of Chaos, and how it changed his life.
Self Mastery
As Yuri started to write and visualize his book, he found that our success in writing a book, increasing our wealth, or finding happiness, all comes down to three conversations. Yuri likens these conversations to Maslow’s hierarchy, where the beginning foundation of conversation is with our bodies. Your health, fitness, nutrition, and biorhythms are the foundation of everything else. As he tells us in this podcast, “If you have no health, you’ve got nothing else. You have no time or energy or ability to focus on mental models or other people.”
Second, our conversation is in our minds. Our mindset is very important, and we need to clear out all the junk talk so that we can actually grow and learn. Last, we have important conversations with other people and God. How we manage these conversations can affect our lives and businesses.
But there’s more to these conversations. Yuri says even if we have successful relationships with our own minds, with our bodies and health, and with other people, we still need to command ourselves. “Be your own commander-in-chief,” Yuri says.
There Is Nothing New Under the Sun
A lot of authors I coach worry about not having an original idea. And they are right in one aspect—most subjects and ideas have already been talked about. But what I want every writer to know is that it doesn’t matter if your topic has already been talked about—it is your unique take, experience, and interpretation of that topic that people want to know about. Your book matters.
Yuri agrees with this especially when it comes to important cultural stories. Stories can be a way of handing down values and events, and even though the story may be the same over and over again, Yuri tells us, “Every generation needs a retelling of the same stories, the same concepts.”
In this podcast, Yuri also shares with us:
- How he organized his book
- That we’re not trying to be all original
- What a horizontal integrator and what their role entails
- That you should worry about being original—just get your idea out your way
- The Four Pillars and how they apply to your life
- If you are unsure about your book topic, write an article or newsletter about it first
- No matter how you publish, get to know everything you can about publishing
- How he organized his book
What was your biggest takeaway from this episode? Are you writing a book and wondering if it is unique enough? Share in the comments below!
That’s all for this week. If you have a message inside of you that needs to be written, today is the day to start. Don’t delay — take action.
Episode Resource:
Connect with Yuri here:
LinkedIn
Substack
Get a copy of Yuri’s book here:
Be Your Own Commander In Chief: The Authoritative Guide to Creating A Life of Clarity, Meaning, Impact & Success in Times of Chaos
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