The Big Announcement: Part 1 | And it’s goodbye from me.
The announcement.
After 22 years as one of the most noted and successful keynote speakers, delivering thousands of presentations and driving meaningful change for global organisations worldwide, and as a behaviour advisor to 93 of the Fortune 100 companies, I’m stepping away from my career as a keynote speaker.
From the outside, I’m sure it appeared to be a success: bestselling books, awards, international travel, and a client list like a Who’s Who of the Fortune 500. After all, that’s what it’s supposed to look like, right?
However, the reality has been quite different for some time now.
If you’d like to skip the gory details and go straight to the lessons I’ve learned and what I’ll be doing next, keep reading. But if you’re curious and want the full story, you can read some excerpts from my edited journal - just know it comes with a trigger warning. I never planned to share these experiences publicly, but in the spirit of supporting discussion of our mental health and being truly authentic with you, I’m opening up about what’s led me to step away from my career as a keynote speaker.
Click here now for the full story, or read on for the lessons, and to hear what I’m doing next.
The future.
For those who braved the journal link, welcome back, and for those who scrolled - let’s begin…
The result of finding myself in that space of deep reflection and grief was that I found clarity. I realised how easily we confuse “success” with noise, reaching for more, and approval. I’d been chasing a professional image, but not living a personally meaningful life. I’d been helping companies grow, but I wasn’t growing in the ways that mattered most to me.
Today, 28 May, 2025 I launch a series of in-person retreats for the people behind the company titles - for people like you.
To support the retreats I’ve relaunched The Journey (where you’re reading this), an online community with resources and step by step plans to train your brain for the life you imagine. To help answer the questions we all ask like: “Who am I?”, “What do I want?”, and “What should I do now?”. The questions that some don’t answer with reflection, but with buying, drinking, or pretending everything is okay.
Appealing to your compassion and in the spirit of vulnerability: please support me.
Take a look at the new website, share the retreats with people you think might be interested (or indeed book your place and join us), buy a book, or join a community of likeminded people here in The Journey.
The lessons.
Through all this, I’ve learnt a lot about me, about life, and about what really matters, which I’ll share with you here in the hope it’s of value and that none of you experience what I’ve been through.
There’s always someone else doing better than you, even if you can’t work out why or how. Everyone can’t be in the right place at the right time, or know the right people, or have the right idea at the most convenient time. But remember that every success or admirable lifestyle has a cost attached to it.
Never give away trust to anyone else more than you trust yourself. Learn to trust yourself so you don’t have to rely on others. Keep control or at least oversight of everything because almost no one cares about you, your business, or your life, as much as you do.
As I drowned, the people I thought might help simply looked on. Offers of support came from the most unlikely of places.
You can’t thrive with one foot in the past and one foot in the future. It’s comforting and reassuring to stick with the same people and familiar ideas, but you have to sever everything for a truly fresh start. It’s only then that you realise how much the past was holding you back.
When debts are mounting and there’s nothing you can do because there’s no business coming in, you can still choose peace and happiness. It doesn’t make the stress go away, nor the crippling disillusionment when the hustling is fruitless, but it is the healthiest choice you’ll make for you.
Authenticity fuels resilience. Above everything else - fame, fortune, possessions, status, career - choose love. Love for yourself, and for life. It’s so much harder to do than you imagine but more rewarding than anything you’ll ever have.
The opportunity to start again never expires. It might not be what you want - but it could be everything you need.
So, what does this mean for you?
Maybe you’ve seemingly got it all, just like I had, but deep down you’re not happy. Maybe you’re fresh from a divorce and finding you again. Perhaps you’re looking at your life ahead of you and overwhelmed by which direction to turn. I want to share with you through my work how to make a fresh start for an authentic life - no matter which way the dice fall.
Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll stick around and continue to enjoy my writing, online content, podcasts - and I hope to see you on this new path, whether online, in-person, or simply in spirit because we only have one life and your moment is this present moment - right now.
PS. The Journey costs less than a cup of coffee per month. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber: