4 years ago, I started my own business coaching entrepreneurs to reach their potential and succeed on their terms.
3 years ago, I noticed a pattern: Lack of money, skills, or intelligence aren’t what hold most people back—fear is. I called the most common ones the Four Horsemen of Fear. I started writing about how fear shows up in our lives to help people understand what’s really holding them back. Then I started running live programs to help people overcome fear.
2 years ago, I kept refining the idea through coaching, courses, writing, workshops, and podcast interviews that reached hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.
1 year ago, I realized I was wrong. Fear doesn’t hold us back—our avoidance of things that provoke fear holds us back. Fear shows up when we’re on the path that leads to the life we want, the work we’re emotionally invested in. There is wisdom in fear, but we’ve forgotten how to embrace it. This is why productivity advice rarely works. Because most “productivity” problems are fear-avoidance strategies in disguise (example: procrastination helps you avoid launching a project and being criticized for it).
Last year, I asked a new question. Instead of “What could you achieve if fear wasn’t holding you back?” I asked, “What could you achieve if you embraced fear to guide you forward?”
So I launched a new program called The Alchemy of Fear—a 6-week live course designed to help people transform their relationship with fear.
Two cohorts later, alumni have started their own businesses, doubled their revenue (and enjoyment), developed the confidence to speak up and be a leader in their company, and brought more alignment and authenticity into every area of their life and business.
This week, I finished the book proposal for The Alchemy of Fear book. From draft 1 to draft 9, I refined it 36%.
Alchemy is about transformation—to unlock the true potential contained within raw materials. This is why the book is called The Alchemy of Fear, because it’s about unlocking the true potential (the wisdom) of fear to help you achieve the life you want.
Refinement is its own form of alchemy—take an idea and refine it over and over until you unlock its true potential.
After refining my understanding of psychology for over 16 years, refining these concepts for the last 4 years through work that has resonated with countless people all over the world, and refining the book proposal itself, this week I start the process of querying literary agents to potentially get a traditional book publishing deal.
The book will exist regardless (I know plenty of successful self-published authors), but I want to attempt a trad deal.
Let’s see how it goes.
Read Next: A Quick and Dirty Guide to Book Publishing for Entrepreneurs
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P.S.
If you’re a literary agent (or know any) looking to represent a book that will change the zeitgeist for how we navigate fear in entrepreneurship, creativity, and personal growth, I’d love to talk.
Reach out via email (corey [at] coreywilkspsyd.com) or social (LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky)
