Today, I found myself scrolling down to the depths of my Google Docs and came across the first draft of my book, It’s Not As Bad As You Think.

Actually, that wasn’t even the title when I was first writing it.

But when I found it, I decided to open and read through it for the first time in a while.

Let’s just say it wasn’t good.

Despite the urge to delete the file and throw my laptop out the window, I decided to keep it. All because of Wilbur Smith:

If you’re not familiar with him, Smith is a British-South African novelist who specialized in historical fiction. He wrote 49 books and sold 140 million copies before he passed away in 2021, but not without leaving a legacy for other aspiring writers.

His first novel, When The Lion Feeds, was the first book that he submitted to a publisher that went on to become a bestseller in its field. A lot of people thought that was his first novel, but it turned out, he had another one siting right under his bed for decades.

Whenever he needed a dose of humility, he would pull this box out from under his bed, take out the book, and read it. Only to shudder after a few minutes, and put it back in it's rightful place.

He couldn’t bare to read it any more than a few pages, but kept it because it reminded him that no one is perfect. Even someone who was a self-made millionaire and kept putting out bestseller after bestseller.

And the same goes with you. Whether it’s a piece of art you’ve drawn, a video you’ve taken, or an essay you bombed, it might just be worth keeping it around as a way to look back and cringe. To remind yourself how far you’ve come, and to make the successes of today that much sweeter.

Until next time,
Isaiah Taylor

Dive Deeper

What I’m Currently Reading - I’m now reading Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. A bestselling book on the perfect morning routine that you should adopt all before 8am.

Quote Of The Week - “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” — Paulo Coelho