There was a very special occurrence that happened in my life this week. After many years of writing, rewriting, submitting, editing, re-editing, polishing and waiting, my eighth book, TEARS of Joy, finally arrived on my doorstep. I opened the package, with tears of joy in my eyes, and I looked at the beautiful cover, felt the matte texture, flicked through the pages and smelled the paper, and I was a mess! I stopped to reflect where my writing journey all began, almost 20 years ago. It happened in a moment and in a heartbeat. That moment changed my life forever.

I was so incredibly emotional as I held this book in my hands for the first time, even though it is my eighth. Because I realised it is not just a book with pages and words, it represents so much more. It reflects decades of experiences, pain, heartbreak, struggles, regret, self-doubt, overcoming, learning, changing, gratitude, focus and most of all, the feeling of joy of achievement. No wonder there were tears. I mean, this book represents so much more than many people would ever realise or understand. If you have written, or a are writing a book, you will know what I mean.

I have been an author now for more than seventeen years, and loving my life as a full-time author, speaker, blogger, mentor now podcaster for over fifteen years. But let me tell you, there was a time when I was not loving my life, in fact far from it. There is a moment, I now talk about often, when everything changed in a heartbeat. I want to tell the story again, even if you have heard it, because I want you to know that no matter what you may be facing right now, it can change, in a heartbeat.

Many people know I was a personal trainer for fifteen years, working around 80 hours every week. Then, in the year 2000, as I was looking for ways to impact more lives, help people with nutrition and create another source of income, I bought a café. It was a pretty crazy decision as I was already working long hours as a PT, and I had no experience in hospitality. So, it’s not really a surprise to anyone, with a logical mind and business brain, that within two years of working more than 100 hours and seven days every week, I found myself in close to $100,000 debt. It was the lowest point in my life, but it was all about to change, in a heartbeat.

As I sat there, in 2002, with my head in my hands, rueing my current circumstances, I asked myself a different question to normal. I asked myself, how do I want to live? Why did I ask myself that? Because, asking myself what I wanted to do was clearly not working. That question triggered a very clear vision that included: impacting lives, financial options, time, wellbeing, great relationships, travel, and, most importantly, to love my life. The vision was so clear and so strong that it prompted a thought that changed my life. The thought was illogical, irrational and unreasonable. The thought was perfect. The thought was to write a book.

So, despite all the very sound reasons why writing a book, at that time, was not logical, I acted on the thought. In that moment my life changed forever because as a result of the thought, the strong desire it created, the action I immediately took and the routine of writing I created, I became a best-selling author two years later. As I sit here typing this now, just having published my eighth book, I want to tell you that, everything I envisioned on that day is now the reality of my life. I could not be more grateful. My life changed in a heartbeat.

My life didn’t change when I had the idea to write a book, it didn’t change when I started writing, I didn’t change when it was published, and it didn’t change when it sold over 30,000 copies. My life changed in that moment when I asked myself the question: how do I want to live? It changed when I visualised what I wanted, and I made the decision, despite how illogical, to get started and keep going until it was my reality.

Okay, that is way too much about me. This is about you. If you are not where you want to be in your life, it can change in a heartbeat. It will change the moment you get crystal clarity about what you want, and you decide to make that vision a reality. You don’t need all the answers about how to get there, you just need to decide that you will. Step out in faith, commit to the journey and the rest will take care of itself. I want to encourage you to listen to my podcast with Jemima Montag, called Olympian Mindset. Jemima came 6^th at the Tokyo Olympics in the 20km race-walk and is an inspiring example of how great achievement and success happens way before the realisation of the dream. It happens in your mind, and it happens in a heartbeat. Change your life today.