Listen to full episode
Nobody can believe in you on your behalf. In this solo episode, I share what writing a book has taught me about resistance, patience, and how real self-belief gets built: by doing the work.
Read the full Show Notes below!
Subscribe Now
“An idea is nothing if you’re not willing to actually put in the time, energy, effort, and work that it takes to make it reality.”
Today's Guest
Amanda Parker
Amanda Parker is the host of the Don't Step on the Bluebells podcast and an intuitive guide that helps people to deeply trust their inner wisdom, quiet the external noise, and intentionally create a life fully aligned with their true self. She is a Certified Professional Coach (ICF PCC, CPCC) and spiritual guide using a unique blend of shamanic and energy healing practices to support you on your journey towards inner knowing and deep self-trust.
Amanda is a Reiki Master Healer and a member of the UK Reiki Federation, and has trained in psychic mediumship with the College of Psychic Studies and shamanism with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies.
Amanda has worked in the field of leadership and personal development since 2017 - supporting clients from organizations such as World Bank Group, World Economic Forum, UNICEF, Zalando, Nestle, and LinkedIn. She previously worked in wildlife conservation with the World Wildlife Fund - supporting projects in forest and wetland protection across South America.
Amanda is a native New Yorker who has been living in London for the last 4.5 years, after over a decade in Berlin, Germany. She now lives in North London with her husband and their two cats, Zaki & Oreo.
How to get in touch:
Inner Authority Gameplan: https://www.amandaparker.co/gameplan
Website: https://www.amandaparker.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandaparker.co/
Substack: https://substack.com/@theamandaparker
Listen to the episode on
Show Notes
I locked myself away for four days to find out if I could actually write a book.
The first morning, I did everything but write. I needed coffee. Then a walk. Then a pen, then a new notebook. And then, finally, I could sit down and write for hours. By the end of my mini retreat I had completed 70,000 words, and something I hadn’t expected: proof that I could trust myself to show up.
That’s the kind of belief nobody can hand you. Someone can call and tell you they believe in you, that you’re going to do this, that it’s amazing. And part of you still won’t buy it. In this solo episode, I share why the only way to really believe in yourself is to take action towards what you want, no matter how small the first step may seem.
I’m in the middle of writing my first book (I’m keeping the details of it close for now), and this episode is an honest look at what it has really taken. Months of reading about writing and circling the idea before I wrote a word. Weeks of flow, followed by weeks when I couldn’t face my desk. And underneath it all, the old stories. Who am I to write this? Is it good enough? Am I good enough?
Here’s what I’ve come to see. Anything worth creating asks you to become the next version of yourself, and the stories you hold about yourself are probably out of date. The only way to update them is to take the first step.
I also talk about why moving slowly isn’t the same as being stuck, what seeds growing through winter can teach us about patience, and Steven Pressfield’s advice to put yourself in the places where your dream already feels possible.
If there’s a creation living in your heart that you haven’t brought into the world yet, this one is for you.
Key Takeaways
Self-belief is built by taking the steps you need to take. It’s not given to you, by others.
Doubt and resistance are a normal part of creating, not a sign to stop.
Creating something meaningful asks you to become someone new.
An idea only becomes real when you put in the work.
Slow progress isn’t failure, because ideas need time to take root.
Swap deadline pressure for the conditions that help you believe you can.
Surround yourself with people who believe your dream is possible.
What We Talked About
Why an idea means nothing until you’re willing to do the work
Why it took 11 months to go from a flash of insight to launching this podcast
What it really took to leave corporate life and build my own business
How years of journals quietly became the beginning of writing a book
Everything I did to get ready before I wrote a single word
Why weeks of flow followed by weeks of avoidance is part of the process
What happened when I locked myself away for four days to write
Why you need to put yourself where your heart wants to be
Why we don’t always see the results of our effort right away, and how growth happens beneath the surface first.
Guest Quotes
“An idea is nothing if you’re not willing to actually put in the time, energy, effort, and work that it takes to make it reality.”
“Every single step of the way gave me opportunities to either say, yes, I’m invested, I’m committed, I believe in this, or hell no, this is way too much work.”
“With something that you are creating it also needs time to sit and to settle and to tell you what it wants to be.”
“What’s the story beneath the story?”
“You have to start with an idea and you have to start with a certain degree of naivete, just believing it’s going to work no matter what, because you have no idea what steps are going to open up after you take the first one and then the second one and then the third.”
“This is a normal part of creation.”
“There would be no opportunity to become someone new in the process.”
“It requires you to believe in yourself in a way that you never knew was possible.”
“ I think the only way to actually believe in yourself in that way is to take the steps towards creating.”
“I learned that I could trust myself when I said that I was going to do something, I would show up for myself and for the work and put the words on the page and do the work.”
“I couldn’t have had you calling and telling me, oh my God, Amanda, I believe in you so much. You’re going to do this. This is amazing. It would have been impossible. I wouldn’t have believed you.”
“That agitation is a part of the fuel that I personally need to be able to sit down and get it done.”
“Just because something takes a while to begin or to really get into a flow doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile.”
“But they were growing all winter long, you just couldn’t see it.”
“They need time to germinate, to take root before they’re actually ready to see the light of day.”
“Things take time to work, to manifest, to come to life.”
“In order to bring something like that into the world, you are asking yourself to become a different person. And that’s the part that takes time, and that’s the part that actually takes the work.”
“I am now an author. I’m not just a person who loves writing or who has an idea for a project that I want to write.”
“Chances are everything that you are dreaming of will happen. It’s just not going to happen on the timeline that you might have thought it would.”
“If there’s something that’s calling your heart strong enough, it is meant for you and it will happen.”
“I believe in you.”
Resources to Learn More
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott: a much-loved book on the writing process - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24579193
On Writing by Stephen King: King’s memoir on the craft of writing - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/10569.On_Writing
Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be by Steven Pressfield: on putting yourself in the places and situations that create the right conditions for your dream - https://a.co/d/0dKiyhXS
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: the classic guide to recovering and nurturing your creativity - https://a.co/d/0hpwKcfc
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: a book about meeting resistance, finding your muse and sitting down to do the work every day. - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18624273-the-war-of-art
Terms & Tools to Dig Deeper
AI (artificial intelligence): Computer tools that can process and organise information and respond to questions. Amanda used AI to pull her messy notes and ideas into a clear shape and find the story she wanted to tell.
Channeling session: A session where you enter a meditative or trance state to receive guidance or insight beyond everyday thinking. Amanda used these with her coach to discover what her book wanted to be about.
Coaching: A supportive one-to-one process that helps someone get clear on a goal and work through what’s in the way. Amanda retrained as a professional coach when she left corporate life.
Creative incubation: The period when an idea develops beneath the surface, before it’s ready to be acted on or shared.
Flow: A state of deep, absorbed focus where the work feels easier and time seems to disappear.
Journaling: Writing regularly about your thoughts, feelings and experiences. Amanda found that her journals already held versions of her book’s story, written over many years.
Manifesting: The process of bringing an intention, idea or desire into physical reality, often over time.
MBA: Master of Business Administration, a postgraduate business degree. Amanda uses her own MBA as an example of finding the story beneath the story.
Muse: The source of creative inspiration. In Steven Pressfield’s work, the muse shows up when you commit to sitting down and doing the work.
Music licensing: Buying the legal rights to use a piece of music, such as a podcast’s theme tune. This was one of the steps in launching Don’t Step on the Bluebells.
Outline: A plan of a piece of writing’s structure, created before or alongside drafting. Writing her outline in January 2026 is when Amanda began the book in earnest.
Procrastination: Putting off a task you intend to do, often by keeping busy with other things. Amanda’s version involved coffee, walks, and buying pens and notebooks.
Resistance: Steven Pressfield’s term in The War of Art for the inner force that keeps us from creative work. It shows up as procrastination, distraction, doubt and fear.
Story beneath the story: Amanda’s phrase for the deeper truth that emerges as you write, create or do coaching work. It’s often different from what you thought you were working on.
Time blocking: Reserving set periods in your calendar for one task, with no meetings or interruptions. Amanda blocked her calendar and closed the door to protect her writing time.
Trance state of meditation: A deep meditative state of altered awareness, often used for channeling or accessing intuitive insight.
Voice recording: Speaking your ideas aloud and recording them instead of typing. It was one of the ways Amanda tried to get her words down.
Writing without editing: Getting as much as possible onto the page without stopping to correct or judge it. Amanda chose this when nothing else was working.
Thanks for listening!
What was your biggest insight from this episode? Let me know @amandaparker.co
Don't forget to support the podcast by subscribing and leaving a five-star rating.
Episode Transcript
[Paste Full Episode Transcript Here]