My friend and mentor Jonathan Fields has come out with his book How to Live a Good Life. I’ve been part of Jonathan’s world since I stalked him and wanted to hire him to help me publish my novel Chasing Sylvia Beach. Back in 2011 when said stalking was happening, I had no idea that I would become a participant in his Good Life Project Immersion program and go on to become a faculty member of the GLP team.
Jonathan did help me with my novel, but he also helped me with so much more. Before I knew him personally, I saw the savvy and successful businessman. I remember being on one of his free Tribal Author calls. When he said ‘There’s never been a better time to be an author’ I shouted with joy. Here was someone finally focusing on how much creativity and power we have, instead of how challenging it is to get a book published.
As I came to know Jonathan more, I have seen more than just his savvy. I’ve seen his deep care and commitment to the creative process. I’ve witnessed how much he contributes to those around him – helping us have more self-awareness, more self-confidence and more joyful action.
His book, How to Live a Good Life, brings much of what he has been teaching and learning into one place. Insights from his research, from his podcast interviews and from his role as a perpetual student are bundled into this book that I know will change many lives.
After more than four years deeply immersed in Jonathan’s world, I can say that I have definitely benefited from his business savvy and that my business is stronger for it. But the real benefit of learning from Jonathan is that he continually points me toward being and expressing more of me. To full-on, unabashed sharing of my gifts. To recognizing that all of me, even the goofy parts, deserve a turn on the stage. When you pick up a copy of his book, look for me in the chapter Dance Like No One’s Watching.
Jonathan agreed to an interview for us, and while there is a lot I could ask about the contents of the book, I wanted to focus on his unexpected path to writing How to Live a Good Life. Enjoy this conversation about sticking with it even when you don’t know how.
Cynthia Morris Thanks, Jonathan, for agreeing to share your experience with your writing process. You know we all love those peeks behind the curtain. So your process of writing your book didn’t go according to plan. Can you tell us what happened?
Jonathan Fields Haha. It was quite an odyssey! First, the book I sold my publisher was a completely different book, but after researching it more deeply, I realized the data was all over the place. Translation, it would be an “interesting romp,” but in the end, probably a pretty unsatisfying read. So, I went back to the publisher, told them where I was at, said I didn’t want to write it, but that there was another book I was ready to write.
That new book would be called How to Live a Good Life. They got it, and were on board with the new direction. I went off, did a nuanced deep-dive into psychology, philosophy and more, then wrote the manuscript and turned it. Waiting for an answer. Waiting. Waiting. #ergggg!!! Finally, it came. “This is not it,” my editors said. Oh. Okay. We had a meeting, discussed where is went off course and how to bring it back.
Then, I went off on my own and wrote an entire new second manuscript. Feeling better about it, I turned it in. And, waited for a reply. Again. Finally, it came. “This isn’t it, either. And, we don’t know what to tell you.” Noooooo! This is not what any author wants to hear, especially after switching books, then having already written two manuscripts.
What I realized is that I was writing with a new publisher, and this was a very different type of book than I’d ever written before. More straight up human potential/personal growth, not career, business or entrepreneurship. I didn’t understand what that genre demanded. So, we hit pause. I went and read the top selling books in the space over the last decade. Finally, it clicked, I understood the approach.
I reworked the table of contents to conform with this new structure and showed it to my publisher. They loved it, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to write “that” book. So, I told them I’d write the first few chapters to see how we all felt about it. A few weeks later, I turned the first four chapters in. They loved it. And, to my surprised, I really enjoyed writing in this new style. It was so much lighter and easier to read, yet fiercely actionable.
From then on, we were off to the races! But, wow, did it take some soul searching to get there.
CM What went through your mind and heart at the third draft?
JF Hehe. I’m a New Yorker, what really went through my mind and heart would not be polite to share. lol!
There were definitely moments where I considered just packing it in and giving back my advance. But, something inside of me kept me in it. Funny enough, it nothing to do with “sunk costs.” It wasn’t that I’d already spent so much time on it.
As an entrepreneur, I’ve learned that you cannot guide your future decision based on what you’ve invested in a project to date. You have to look at it fresh and ask, “knowing what I now know, would I still want to make this happen?” My answer remained a solid yes. There was something inside that had to get out.
CM You’ve described writing this book as ‘brutally hard’. I’m curious to know what helped you stay committed to this book even though it put you through the wringer.
JF I sometimes wonder if what really kept me in it was the challenge of trying to write to a new form, to be creative and compelling under what, for me, was a new and pretty alien set of constraints. A new way to write. The challenge was to take a vast amount of information and figure out how to convey in a way that “felt” super easy to engage with, was simple to understand and that inspired action.
I like a challenge, so I went for it. And, once I got comfortable, maybe the biggest surprise was that it was actually a much easier process than the approach that’d guided my writing during the first two books. In fact, once I had the book mapped out and got into a real rhythm, I ended writing close to a chapter a day.
I also used a technique I first heard about in a 1958 interview in The Paris Review with Ernest Hemingway. “You always stop when you know what is going to happen next,” he told his partner in conversation, George Plimpton. That’s what I did. I would never end a writing day with a finished chapter. No matter how challenging, I’d always begin the next one and write enough so that, when I came back the next day, I could dive right in.
Coincidentally, in a past life as a lawyer, I spent a year working at the mega-firm that Plimpton would eventually found, Debevoise & Plimpton, some 4-plus decades after the interview with Hemingway took place. And, one of my favorite things about being a writer now is that I am no longer bound by the rigid formulas of the law.
CM As a coach, illustrator and author, I know that this process of needing to do several drafts is more the rule than the exception. You know this firsthand, too, but I’m curious to know if there’s any research or information you came across in writing Uncertainty or How to Live a Good Life that might help people to accept the fact that many drafts might be necessary.
JF One of the things I discovered is that your best work rarely, if ever comes on the first go-around. If you look at the process of ideation, it usually unfolds in three phases. The first attempt gets all the obvious ideas on the table. With rare exception, they’re not great. Obvious does not equal creative or innovative. Sadly, a good many people stop here and tell themselves, “good enough is good enough.”
A few push into the second phase. Here you return to the table and begin to dig deeper. You toil, grumble, write, map, outline, draw, argue, sweat, caffeinate and probably say things that’ll get you in trouble. But, better ideas start to form. You deepen into empathy and see different patterns. Still, at the end of the day, the ideas are better, but you know deep down, they’re neither the best solution, nor are they representative of what you’re truly capable of. Still, at this point, the process becomes so grueling, most people just give up. They settle.
A rare few push through to the third phase. Here, you wipe the slate clean, you force yourself to stand in a place of uncertainty. You question every alleged truth and assumption and, hard as it is, keeping working. Sometimes, the big breakthrough comes from this toiling. But, more often than not, it comes when you now step away, create space and just let it come. That’s what eventually happened with my book. It only came together after I worked, struggled fiercely, then stepped away and committed to living in the abyss long enough for the real answers to emerge.
CM Now that the book is done and you have a bit of distance, what do you love about it?
JF Haha, the cover! Truly, I asked a friend, Caroline Winegart, to create it and I’ve loved it since the moment I saw it. Beyond that, the thing I love is the very same thing that scares me most about it. It is the most personal thing I’ve ever written. The level of sharing is new for me, and it both makes me nervous, but also most excited. The other thing is that it is this weird blend of the easiest read and the most actionable book I’ve ever created. And, my greatest hope is that people won’t just read the book, they’ll do it!
CM What’s your dream or intention for the book? If it were out there doing its job, what would you want to see for people after reading this book?
JF That it serves as the inciting incident in people’s lives. That it open the door to possibility, then guides them as they take the daily steps to make the journey from flatlined to flourishing. To rediscover meaning and movement, grace and ease, peace and connection, vibrance and vitality. Seriously, I want people to DO this book.
CM Anything else you want to share?
JF Just that you rock. I’ve also seen you as a mentor and a mensch, but I’ve loved being in your orbit as you’ve taken your seat as a true artist. You inspire me. And, oh my God, what an incredible example you set for a life well-lived.
Thanks so much for allowing me to spend some time with you and your community!
To pick up a copy of his book, click here. Here’s something really special: if you order a book or several copies by October 18th, you will be part of the program to plant a tree for each book sold. How cool is that?! Become a Good Life Ambassador here.
Thanks for sharing this interview with JF, Cynthia! You and he are definitely kindred spirits and I learn so much from both of you. I look forward to sharing the book with all of my friends – you’ve inspired me to do it today! 🙂 I love the tip about never leaving your writing when you know what’s next. Brilliant!
Thank you Cynthia – what a great interview. I can’t wait to read the book. You both are so inspiring. Also loved the above section from the Hemingway piece. And that he then worked in that firm – how life surprises us! Especially when we keep pushing through beyond the obvious, into the truly meaningful layers, as JF and you have done.