From The Blog
Sep 11th
Can you change your life in 7 days?
posted by Jules and is very lonely without commentsToward the end of 2005 I was working for a very large blue chip organisation as a Service Desk Team Leader. This role involved me managing a team of approximately 80 staff who were responsible for delivering technical support via the telephone to some 19,000 end users. It was an incredibly demanding role, partly because I needed to recruit and train 60 or so new staff within 3 months! This meant I worked incredibly long hours, had to constantly respond to what felt like minute by minute changes and over a period of 9 months or so became incredibly stressed. Needless to say my mental and physical well being went gradually downhill.
When I had first been employed my salary was in line with someone managing 20 staff. As the scope of my role had changed so dramatically during the course of 2005 I attempted to address this with my manager. Like many organisations these conversations were diverted, delayed and discussed ad nauseum without any real progress being made.
Eventually I reached the point of no return and decided to resign. At the time it felt like the scariest thing I had ever done. I had no job lined up, no prospect of any work and absolutely no idea what I was going to do. The only thing I did know was that I was doing the right thing for me – even if I had no idea how I was going to pay the bills in 2006!
With just over a week to go before I left I was travelling to Scotland by train to work at another site for a few days. I had a bit of time to kill and found myself wandering around W H Smiths in Newcastle Central Station browsing the book section. Paul McKenna’s book Change Your Life in Seven Days practially leapt into my hands and taking into consideration how much time I had left at my job it seemed like the perfect travelling companion. Not only that but my morale was so low at this point that I felt I had nowhere to go but up and if a book and a CD was going to help then so be it.
Contained within the book was a CD which I was supposed to listen to for 7 days as well as reading the book. The book, in truth, didn’t particularly inspire me and I thought the idea of my very strong mind being ‘hypnotised’ into thinking differently seemed laughable. However, always one to do things properly, I thought the least I could do is perservere now that I had spent my money!
Back in the Newcastle office four days later, I virtually bounced into the office with a grin on my face looking like I had won the lottery! One of my colleagues took me to one side during a quiet moment and said “You’ve got a job haven’t you?”. When I replied that I hadn’t his next question was; “Well what’s changed? You seem extremely happy.” It was only then that I realised I did actually feel extremely happy. Looking back it had crept up on me over the last day or two and I hadn’t really noticed because I had been so busy. With the weekend about to start I didn’t really pay the conversation a great deal of attention as I was just looking forward to two days off.
The following Monday involved another trip to Scotland but as it was my last few days in the job I didn’t really mind. Over the weekend I had tried to do a little bit of creative thinking about how to secure some employment in the New Year. I sent my CV to someone I had met who I could trust to tell me the truth about the content and quality of my work experience and skills and whether I could seriously consider becoming a self-employed contractor. One of the most valuable skills I had learned as a manager was to get as much feedback as possible about any aspect of my work so I was more than happy to hear whatever my contact had to say.
To my absolute astonishment he contacted me a day or two later and offered to put my CV forward for a contractors role that he had become aware of. A few conversations and one meeting later I had secured a very lucrative piece of work which was perfect for my skills and experience.
I will never be able to say with any real accuracy how much the book and CD made to my confidence levels or indeed whether the very act of buying the book was the point at which I realised I needed to do something significant to change my circumstances. The fact is, seven days after I had read the book and had listened to the CD for 7 days my life changed for the better.
Can I give all of the credit to Paul McKenna and his book and CD? Probably not. Would I like to hug him and say a huge thank you? Definitely. And if I ever meet him he will have to watch out!
This book changed my life for the better. As with many ‘personal development’ books, you will take out of it what you need but I would definitely recommend giving it a go if you are in a ’stuck situation’ and need to find a bit of momentum.
I would love to hear from you, particularly if you’ve used it and had some success – or not – either way it would just be good to hear from you.
Much love
Jules
Buy the book by clicking this link - Change Your Life in Seven Days (Book & CD)
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Comments
Sarah
September 11th 2009 1:11pmI find even just using the CDs that always accompany Mckenna’s books really useful. I am not sure how they work but they do, just fall asleep listening to one every night for a few nights and see the shift happen…
self help books can be very useful if only to focus yourself and galvanise the forces within
Jules
September 11th 2009 2:25pmThanks for that Sarah. My next one is going to be the one that will make be seriously rich!
Ange
September 21st 2009 9:12amA friend of mine decided just over a year ago to hand her notice in and travel the world. She was a solicitor and very well respected in her career. She knew that she wasn’t happy in her work and didn’t get any real job satisfaction from her role. So she worked her notice and along with her boyfriend, packed up and bought a ticket around the world. Financially, they were in a position to do this as all of their previous hard work had bought them the freedom to be able to make this decision. Just before they were due to leave on their year long trip, she came up to Newcastle for a visit and whilst here, we chatted about life and I told her about how unhappy I was with my work situation and how I felt trapped. I was quite envious of her ability to be able to make a life-changing decision like that without any major consequences.
Anyway, about a week later, a parcel arrived in the post with a nice card and a book inside. The book was ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coehlo. Initially I didn’t really realise the significance of the book to my life but she was perseptive enough to know that it would be very useful to me over the next twelve months. Now I would certainly not say that this book alone inspired me to dramatically change my life (and definitely not in 7 days Jules!); there were so many factors, pressures and influences, just that it seemed to parallel a journey that I was about to embark on. Being a very inconsistent reader, I read the book by dipping into it once every week or two and read another chapter, or even sometimes just a paragraph. Hence it actually took me the full twelve months to complete it. I finished the book two weeks ago, the week before she was due to visit Newcastle again after travelling the whole world! By the time I reached the end of the novel, a stark realisation occurred…that I had completed a journey that directly parallelled the voyage of discovery in the book. Now I didn’t see the sights of the world, like my friend and the character in ‘The Alchemist’, but I found exactly what I needed to know right here. It was often a very painful and distressing journey, but I know now that it was one that I had to travel. I have learned more about self-control, humility and dignity in the last twelve months than I could have ever learned without making the changes I have. I have also discovered the joy of real happiness and contentment that only comes from being true to myself and the people around me.
After returning, my friend knew that she would never be happy going back to her previous career that she had worked and studied so hard for. She made the brave decision to completely change her career and has landed a very, very good job as a trainee psychotherapist already. I also now have a completely different life to the one I had twelve months ago. I have a new business that is growing strong and with integrity. I have a relationship that gets better and better all of the time. My health is vastly improved. Stress nearly killed me a year ago (no exaggeration!). That stress came from being so terribly unhappy and from pursuing a career that was wrong for me. I now understand that happiness is the key to success, positivity is the key to new horizons and empathy / understanding is the key to fruitful relationships.
It took a lot more than 7 days for me to change my life! I wish I had done it a long time ago! However once I took the bull by the horns (very begrudgingly and belatedly, and with a lot of support from friends, family and a certain coach!) my life began to improve. Like the boy in ‘The Alchemist’, I didn’t think that my life was improving initially, it was harder and more challenging. But I was following my destiny, listening to the signs around me and becoming the person I was always meant to me.
Thanks to every single person who has helped along the way. U Turn has been a large and significant part of my journey, thank you.
Jules
September 23rd 2009 6:10pmHi Ange
Thank you so much for taking the time to send your wonderful comment. It’s fantastic that your life has improved so much and from our perspective it’s an honour if U Turn have played even the smallest part in those changes. I am a great believer that openly acknowledging gratitude for your improved life helps to cement those positive changes into the way you think and makes it all the more difficult to slip back into old bad habits that no longer fit into your life.
I also believe that even if only one paragraph in a book says something to you that makes a significant difference it was worth getting through the whole book to read that one tiny part.
The Alchemist is a great book and Paul Coehlo is a wonderful writer and as I have a holiday looming then I think a re-read is a really good idea – so thanks for the prompt.
Well done you for all the hard work you have done this year – I know it’s already paying dividends and will continue to do so for the rest of your days.
If anyone would like to buy this book you can get it by clicking on this link: The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream
It’s only £3.99 and worth every penny.
Much love
Jules