UTurn^TV

Toward 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)