My Biography

I’m now 33 years old and I can safely say that in those 33 years I’ve achieved and experienced a lot in life. I’ve still got a long way to go but I am getting to a place where I know and feel that nothing is off limits. If I can think of it, then I can do it!

One of my greatest passions is to help other people understand and unlock their unlimited potential. I believe that you can choose a new way if your current way isn’t working. For just such occasions I coach individuals and you can hire me to speak at your event. I don’t come cheap but you will get your monies worth!

Keep reading to hear more of my story about how I sailed the seven seas, crossed the deserts and scaled the highest mountains to get where I am today…sort of…

I believe I’m unique, just like everyone else! I began this blog back in 2005, initially just as very small pet project, but it has expanded to what you see before you today. I’ve written nearly 550 articles on various areas of personal development and other areas like stand-up comedy and public speaking.

My journey of personal development began back in 1992 when I started learning meditation at the young age of 15. After a short while I began the process of teaching others and by the age of 16 I was already coaching other adults and children on the techniques of meditation.

Academics was definitely not one of my strong points so, after leaving school, and with very little to show for it, I decided to opt for the working route. I took on various part-time and full-time jobs until I settled into my first office role as an Administrator.

After a few years I struggled to find purpose and reached a point where I no longer wanted to continue life and almost ended it all however, a small book by the name of ‘Conversations With God’, changed all of that and personal development took on a whole new meaning for me.

I also then came across a story that was forwarded to me in a chain email that sparked the whole ‘Power Of Choice’ philosophy. Here is the story:

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested. “Yes, it is,” Jerry said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.”

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?” I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.” “Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Jerry continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ‘He’s a dead man.’ “I knew I needed to take action.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry.

“She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breathe and yelled, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them. ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.” Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

It was at that point that I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to share with people the power of choice and living conscious to show that there was, a new way of seeing the world, and a new way of living life to it’s fullest, through making powerful decisions and choices.

Even though I was living this philosophy in some areas of his life there were other areas of my life that needed desperate attention. At the age of 28, after my partner and I had just split, I had reached a whopping 22 stone in weight and was in a very poor state physically.

It got to the point where I could barely walk down the stairs, because my knees would hurt so much, and was overall, in such bad shape. It was in that moment that I made one of the most important decisions of my life. I knew that I had the choice to continue on that same path and suffer from severe health problems or choose to totally change my ways! Through the power of choice I chose the latter and I’ve never looked back since.

In 2006 I ran my first 3.5mile race in the form of the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge and completed it in 50 minutes and I did it without stopping or walking. Not bad for a 22 stone lard ass! In 2007, not only did I run the same race again, but I beat my previous time by 5 minutes. (I have since run the race a further 2 times and can now run it in under 39 minutes.) In the same week I also ran the 10K BUPA challenge for charity and completed that in 79 minutes, again without stopping or walking. In 2008 I wanted to take things to a new level so I ran the Silverstone Half Marathon. I completed it in 2hours 40mins without stopping or walking. I repeated that also in 2009. In 2010 I hope to Climb Mt Kilimanjaro and run the London Marathon in 2011.

On a side note I’m at avid badminton player and I play around 4 times a week. I’m quite a good player so if you ever fancy a game just give me a shout!

I believe that fear is a tool that tells us what needs to be addressed in our lives. It’s the mechanism through which we grow. In 2004 I jumped off a 25 foot totem pole…with a harness attached luckily!

In 2006 I attended the Tony Robbins UPW seminar I’ve now done the ‘Firewalk’ on two occasions. In 2007 I also tried fire-eating and I have since quit spicy food as I find it too mild!

My Message To The World

We are all powerful unlimited beings. When we understand that we have the power to choose and shape our future as we see fit then suddenly anything becomes possible. Never let the words ‘I can’t’ ever hold you back from knowing your own greatest potential.

There is a special balance not only on this world but in the whole Universe. Everything is perfect as it is and yet we can make things even better. Change comes from within and is projected outwards. It’s possible to want change and yet see the perfection in everything. This is the wonder of relative time-space continuum that we reside in.

If there were only a few words I could share with you it would be this: Know that right now, in this moment, you have a choice as to how you see the world and every opportunity and you have the choice what step to take next. So ask yourself: “What choices am I making today?”

For more information about this site or the work I do simply get in touch!