Barbara is currently writing a book and is looking for volunteers prepared to talk about a moment in their life when they knew from that time onwards they were in control of their own destiny.

People often describe a vivid memory about where they were, what they were doing, what led up to that moment (sometimes an accumulated set of events) a strong gut feeling, a thought, the influence of a person, or a major event.

Whatever the catalyst was the feeling afterwards is of being in charge of your own life, knowing that what happens from then on will happen because you make it happen. People set their lives on a different course or change their whole approach. Sometimes action is not immediate, there can be scheming, planning, putting off doing something about it for years etc then there is a moment of readiness, an unstoppable sense of knowing things must change.

I am particularly interested in the feeling of being in charge "I am going to make things happen for me".

Short extracts to get you thinking might be:

"when he dumped me I knew that all my planning and saving money so we could be together was not living my own life, so I decided to leave the country and go travelling - I changed my life"

"I knew at that moment, as I walked down the street in Sydney that one day I would work there. All my career decisions from that moment have been directed to that end"

"When I woke up in hospital having had a stroke, although well, I knew from that moment on my life was going to change"

"I will always remember the guy who suggested I pay for my own training, out of my own pocket. When I did that for the first time it changed the way I lived my life I felt in charge"

Please send me your story. It doesn't matter how simple or complex. If you have experienced a moment in your life that has put you firmly in charge of what you do now, or if you are still thinking about it and are not sure what to do next. I would like to know.

Either email me at » barbara@patersonconsultancy.com or call me on 07973 190701 if you would rather talk.

Barbara Paterson