If you are familiar with the organization Alcoholics Anonymous, you have probably seen or heard about the way people sometimes introduce themselves at these meetings. “Hi, my name is Kent, and I’m an alcoholic.”

Now, I’m not actually an alcoholic and I’ve never been to an AA meeting. But the phrase has been portrayed enough on TV and the movies that almost everyone is familiar with it.

Why do they do this? Why would you state it out loud that you’re an alcoholic, especially in the midst of a room full of people who identify with the same struggle?

One of the reasons is that it levels the playing field. No matter who you are, what your level of success is or isn’t, no matter how much money you have or don’t have, what you look like, or how old you are… everyone at an AA meeting is on equal footing. They are all there for a common purpose—united by their desire to stay sober.

But there is another reason. Saying something out loud, and affirming your identity to others verbally, has great power. To put it in writing terms, you may BELIEVE or THINK you’re a writer, but have you ever said it out loud to anyone? When is the last time you verbally said to someone in a conversation, “Hi, my name is so-and-so, and I’m a writer” or “I’m an author?”

This may sound juvenile, but I can assure you, it’s not. On a recent Daily Writer Community Call, I made everyone in the meeting go around and verbally say that exact thing. It was extraordinarily powerful.

So, I challenge you to tell someone you’re a writer in the next 24 hours. Don’t do it over text, email, or social media. Do it verbally. Even if the only person you say it to is a two-year-old, that counts for something. The very act of you verbalizing it will have great emotional power over you. It will give you amazing confidence and sear in your mind that you are indeed a writer.

Daily Question: In the next 24 hours, who are you going to tell you’re a writer?