#GuestPost & Extract ~ How I Motivated Myself to Succeed by @ShelleyWilson72 #SelfHelp #FridayReads

It’s my pleasure to be able to kick off the blog tour and bring you a guest post and extract from Shelley Wilson’s new book, How I motivated Myself to Succeed, which is released on Kindle today!

Welcome, Shelley…and Happy Publication Day!

About the book

If you’ve ever felt like life is passing you by at a startling rate, or you just exist day to day rather than living life to the full, this book will share honest, straightforward, and realistic techniques to help motivate you to make powerful changes.
From setting goals and organising your life, to freeing yourself from fear, Shelley shares the unique story of how she planned, prepared, and executed the year of challenges and life-changing events brought about by her motivational, award-winning blog.
How I Motivated Myself to Succeed is full of practical tips, exercises, and real-life stories of success, including advice on how to trust yourself and celebrate achievements, as well as manage your time and balance your life effectively.
Shelley’s first book, How I Changed My Life in a Year, became a bestseller in self-help and memoir as it struck a nerve with the thousands of women looking to make a difference and be the best they could be.
Dubbed as the sequel-that’s-not-a-sequel, this book can be enjoyed before or after reading How I Changed My Life in a Year.

Book links ~ Amazon UK |  Amazon US

Shelley explains the inspiration behind her book

With every new book I release there is always a moment of contemplation. That space in time where I ponder on the what, why, and when of the work I’ve produced. What was I thinking, why did I do it, and when will I learn! 

I’m delighted to join Cathy on her wonderful blog to kick off my book tour, and I thought I’d begin by sharing the ‘what’, or rather, the inspiration behind How I Motivated Myself to Succeed.

I attend a few author events throughout the year and one of the questions I love to ask my fellow scribes is ‘what inspired you to write your book.’ I love the variety of answers I receive as they are as wide-ranging as the genres we write for.

Fiction authors find inspiration in everything around them. I know that my young adult trilogy (The Guardian Series) evolved after I spotted a photograph in a magazine of a gravestone with three hooded figures. With non-fiction, that spark of inspiration may be slightly different.

A writer who shares their knowledge about the craft of writing itself will, no doubt, have been inspired by their own journey and the influx of questions they may have received from new writers just starting out. Someone who pens a book about depression and anxiety might be using the book in a self-healing capacity as well as hoping to help the many people who suffer with mental health issues.

For me, life before publication centred on my holistic health spa for women which I ran for seven years. I am a fully qualified reflexologist, massage therapist, meditation tutor, Reiki Master Teacher, and EFT practitioner. My spa was a hub of happiness and well-being where I spent every day (and two evenings!) helping my clients to feel better about themselves and assist them with any physical and emotional issues.

These ladies became my inspiration. The more I spoke to them, the more I felt an overwhelming desire to help. If I met a client who was dealing with an issue I didn’t have sufficient knowledge about I would research it so that I was better equipped to help.

Over the years I took great pride in learning as much as I could and evolving my skills. Opening the door to a lady who looks ashen and crumpled and then, following a treatment, watching them spring down the path with their head up and a wide smile was an incredible feeling.

My spa was a one-woman enterprise in a small town in the West Midlands, I could only help so many people, and so I turned to my passion for writing. If I could write about well-being, holistic health, and personal development then maybe I could reach a wider audience and help more people.

So, my inspiration for writing non-fiction is firmly rooted in the beautiful women I worked with every day. My first book, How I Changed My Life in a Year published in 2014 was based on a series of challenges I did over the course of a year. It was done as a way to show my clients how easy it could be to achieve their wildest dreams. Taking part in that challenge and, subsequently, writing that book really did change my life in so many ways.

My new book, How I Motivated Myself to Succeed was inspired once again by my clients, but also by the multitude of readers who contacted me following the release of my first book. I was inundated with messages of thanks, hope, and excitement as women all over the world took control of their lives. However, they wanted more! These readers were asking me how I managed to run a business, write a blog and book and care for three teenagers on my own. They needed the details. They urged me to divulge my organisational tips and motivational skills. So, I began working on putting all the unanswered questions together, and, voila! How I Motivated Myself to Succeed, the sequel-that’s-not-a-sequel was born.

Inspiration surrounds us every day, and it’s our job to turn that into something positive!

I’d like to finish with a huge thank you to my delightful host, Cathy, for allowing me to stand on my self-help soap box and share a corner of my world. Thank you for reading and be sure to check out the other host spots for more inspiration, motivation, and a sprinkle of fun.

Extract

Decluttering is one of my favourite past-times. I have a regular clear-out once a month, and yet, for a reason I’m still struggling to understand, our family has a knack for attracting stuff in a constant stream. Sorting out the piles of magazines, old clothes, and other household paraphernalia is not only virtuous – who wants to be falling over heaps of useless rubbish every day – it’s also incredibly therapeutic.

I dedicated an entire section to decluttering in How I Changed My Life in a Year, and it’s the one topic I receive the most messages about. It appears I’m not the only one who hoards. 

The reason I wanted to talk about it in this book is that the process of decluttering links in perfectly with successful project planning. In the world of holistic health and personal development, the stuff we fill our homes with has energy attached to it – good and bad. Think about an object you own: a vase, piece of jewellery, artwork. When you see it, wear it, or use it you may experience feelings of joy, pride, or nostalgia. That energy seeps into everything in the environment, and your feelings amplify, also impacting on the space and people around you. It’s not a problem if this article has beneficial emotions attached to it, but what if that item is negative and a reminder of less fortunate times or a life-changing period in your life? Do you want to be constantly reminded about the bad times?  

Before starting a new project, setting your goals, or embarking on a career change, it’s wise to allow yourself a few hours, days, or weeks to sort through specific areas in your home and clear the clutter. Energy stagnates around mounds of mess, and if the energy isn’t moving, then we start to feel lethargic, anxious, and stuck. That’s not a helpful way to feel if you’re about to start a new challenge. We need to be feeling positive, powerful, and excited. Remember what I said about being one hundred per cent passionate about our goals? Well, we not only need to plan, and organise ourselves, we need to make our lives as streamlined and fresh as we can.

About Shelley

Shelley is a multi-genre author of non-fiction self-help and young adult fantasy fiction. Her latest release, How I Motivated Myself to Succeed is being dubbed as the sequel-that’s-not-a-sequel to her bestselling book, How I Changed My Life in a Year. She writes a personal development blog (www.motivatemenow.co.uk) as well as an author blog (www.shelleywilsonauthor.com) where she shares book reviews, author interviews, and random musings about writing. Shelley was thrilled to win the Most Inspirational Blogger Award at the Bloggers Bash in 2016, and to scoop second place in the same category in 2017. She is a single mum to three teenagers and a black cat, loves pizza, vampires, and The Walking Dead, and has a slight obsession with list writing.

If you would like to read more about Shelley’s organisational techniques then take a look at her new release, How I Motivated Myself to Succeed, out now in paperback and eBook, and packed full of information on self-care, freeing yourself from fear, organising your life, and much more.

Find out more about Shelley on her author blog or via her personal development blog     

She is also on Twitter | Facebook | Instagram    

SaveSave

SaveSave