Putting Together the Start Finishing Field Guide (Episode 239)

In this episode, Productive Flourishing team members Cory Huff, Steve Arensberg, and Maghan Haggerty join Charlie on the show to talk about the Start Finishing Field Guide, the workbook version of Charlie's best selling book, Start Finishing. In this behind-the-scenes chat with some team members who helped bring the field guide into existence, hear more about some lessons the team learned along the way, the challenges they faced, and why this is the perfect time to launch this workbook. It's going to be an episode with takeaways for everyone, regardless of whether you're a writer, creator, or team leader.

Key Takeaways:

[4:07] Charlie explains his process of writing Start Finishing, and how it turned out to be the kind of book that it is.

[6:08] Steve was the champion for the Start Finishing Field Guide from the beginning. He shares more about why he felt the worksheets and guides that accompanied Start Finishing were so important.

[8:00] When writing a non-fiction book, it is always important to be open to other bits of collateral that you might need to support it.

[9:05] It took a lot of effort to bring the Start Finishing Field Guide into existence. Steve talks about why important tasks that aren’t urgent can sometimes get pushed to the back, especially if there isn’t someone in the organization to champion them.

[10:47] There was a gap between the information presented in Start Finishing and readers actually translating that into a final finished project.

[13:50] How did Maghan get roped into the field guide of Start Finishing? She talks about how she started as part of a street team to promote Start Finishing and found herself needing companion worksheets to better process the concepts it covered.

[15:44] Charlie outlines the timeline for the field guide and how it ended up being launched now.

[17:50] Steve talks about some of the calculations and approximations the team had to do around the cost of producing the field guide, as well as how the team decided which other projects were going to be put on the backburner for this.

[20:35] What are some of the differences between publishing a workbook and a traditionally published book?

[24:48] What's the thought process behind creating worksheets to help people grasp concepts or ideas better?

[29:39] For Maghan, working out how to translate each chapter of the book into worksheets essentially became a lesson for her on what to do next and how to implement the principle of that chapter in her life.

[34:11] The team shares their reflections on what they have learned from working on the field guide and being a part of the PF team.

[42:02] Why is the book called a field guide rather than a workbook? It’s a great resource to have along the journey!

[44:16] Sign up to get the details about the field guide when it gets released.

[45:32] Steve, Maghan, and Cory share their final thoughts to wrap up the interview.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Productive Flourishing

Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done, by Charlie Gilkey

Momentum Planners

Sounds True