Almost twenty years ago to the day, I got fired from a filing job at a major UK residential property developer. I lasted four hours! The manager called the temporary agency I was working for at the time and complained about my lackadaisical work ethic and lack of filing experience.  I couldn't believe it. Who needs experience for a filing job? However, as I took my leave from the office and ...

On Thursday 29th of November 2018, it happened! While attending a training day for a writing project I've been recruited to work on (will share the details with you soon), the one thousandth copy of my book was sold.  I was delighted. There was a sense of inevitability as I'd reached 999 sales the night before after selling some copies at a meet up group I run, but it was still fantastic to ac...

Last night, I watched The Secret on Netflix. Despite this movie/documentary being made in 2006, and despite me working in the personal development world, I'd never seen it before. I'd heard a lot about it. I knew that it'd been a personal development phenomenon - selling 30 million copies of the book - and introducing a new audience to the self-help world. I also had a good idea what The Secre...

My Grandma died last month. She was one hundred and one, 2 months shy of her one hundred and second birthday.  Over the years, I watched her pass through the various stages of deterioration. Amazingly, she was still walking and completely independent up until the age of 96. At that point, she had a fall, lost her confidence and, from then on, relied on a walking frame.  Despite this setback, ...

I was talking to one of my tennis students today about her interest in drama and singing. I suggested she might want to pursue it professionally when she left school or university. Her response was that it would never work. Apparently, to make a career as an actress you have to be incredibly lucky. She also mentioned that most people performing in West End shows are barely able to make a livin...

Take a look at the picture on your left. It's the latest, in a 15-year journey, of attempts I've made to advertise one of my businesses.  Fortunately, this one was for free. As a member of a Fitness4less gym, if you agree to offer other members a discount on your services, you can advertise your business on the notice board without any charge.  In case the advert isn't clear, this is my hypno...

In the film, Interstellar, Matthew McConaughey's character travels to a dimension beyond normal human consciousness. In this realm (far out in space), he attempts to communicate with his daughter to warn her about the impending doom planet earth is facing. However, because the means of communication are so limited, he can only relay this message through grains of dust arranged in Morse code.  ...

I used to be a big WWF fan. Back in the early 90's, my favourites were The Ultimate Warrior and Bret 'The Hitman' Hart. Although I don't watch it anymore, I occasionally listen to podcasts where the old wrestlers talk about what it was like back in the day and share behind the scenes stories. Something I didn't expect to hear, though, was advice on how to get known/become successful in any in...

Yet another failure! As I checked the sign ups to my newsletter, my heart sank. I'd heard good things about Facebook Ads. Authorities I respected said they were a great way to gain exposure and increase your following. Of course, you had to pay, but I didn't mind as long as I saw a return.  That was the problem, though, there were no returns. Despite paying close to £500 on filming a video, e...

Earlier in the year, I was speaking to a friend who works at prestigious multinational bank. He's young (about 23), and passed through their graduate training programme to land a top job. The starting salary was an impressive amount in the high five figures.  He wasn't happy though. A typical working day sees him wake at around 5.30am and, sometimes, return home at 9pm. Occasionally, he's also...