Whilst writing my first book The Art of Negotiation I had plenty going on. I was managing multiple projects, as well as planning our destination wedding on the sunny beaches of Koh Tao, Thailand, enjoying our 6-month-old baby boy whose energy and determination knew no bounds, completing an MBA and working full time as a sales director, oh and in the midst of it all we moved countries and continents from Australia to Singapore.

It’s fair to say, a lot of big life changing events were happening, but through it all, a phrase that kept presenting itself in my head, repeatedly, was: “MAKE IT HAPPEN!”

In going through this chaotic period, I was desperate for any strategies that would help me “make it happen”. I learned a number of techniques from the likes of Tony Robbins, Jen Sincero, Gabrielle Bernstein, and Napoleon Hill. As I listened to their words repeatedly via audiobooks and podcasts, my faith grew. The more I consumed their powerful content and engulfed myself in their proven strategies and mantras, the more I strengthened my own mindset that it all indeed would and could happen.

In order to overcome the variety of new and diverse challenges that presented themselves with each of the balls that I was juggling, I needed to be totally immersed in successful ways of thinking. I had to design effective processes to organise my time to make each day as focused and successful as possible. Obviously, I had a lot to change, but taking the time to learn, create and implement consentient habits rather than just fudging my way through it forced me to move up a level. It was through this experience of creating success habits that my fundamental understanding of what I was really capable of occurred.

Every small win brought me one step closer to making it happen. This sense of daily progress through the unknown gave me the courage, the grit and the belief to push through. As I am sure you’re aware the unknown can be scary. Moving my family from Australia, which had been our home and our life for 5 years to a new job, in a totally new part of the world, with a toddler was, at times, a little overwhelming, and unnerving.

I am happy to tell you that it did all work out, and I am writing this book from the comfort of our wonderful apartment overlooking the city of Singapore, we have a happy and healthy baby boy, jobs and businesses that give us fulfilment and life really could not be better. I am so grateful to be in this position, it is a far cry from the 5 years we spent coped up in a studio apartment in Manly, spending every waking hour focused on building our businesses and not knowing how we would make rent from one month to the next. The road has not been easy but with the help of the simple but effective strategies and habits that I am going to share with you in this guide I have found that by consistently showing up every day it is possible to create the life you envision.

In this book I share everything I learned about ‘Making It Happen’. I offer solutions, strategies and optimisations to turbocharge your life when you are taking on mighty challenges. In my case, I was attempting multiple life-altering changes all at once, so it’s fair to say this philosophy has been stress-tested in the real world. I am constantly impressed by and drawn to those who are willing to take big risks to see their dreams come true and make the most of this opportunity we call life. So, if you have a challenge coming up or have been thinking about making a big change for a while, or maybe you have a vision you want to bring to life this book will coach you through. No matter how impossible your goal might seem. It will show you how to turn towards your fears and find the joy in the journey of moving forward towards your goals.

If you’re wondering what all this had to do with being a lion, then let me explain. Being the lion as a concept relates deeply to the characteristics of a lion. Historically, lions are a symbol of two core tenants needed in overcoming big obstacles, courage and strength.

Lion’s face challenges head on.

They do not wing it.

Lions have a proven strategy that they use consistently that allows them to outsmart prey that is often faster than them. They have the grit to dig in and the determination to keep trying.

Lions know when to take action and when to conserve energy by resting in the day and hunting at night when it is cooler, and they can use their innate abilities to their distinct advantage, like opting to hunt in darkness leveraging their razer shape eyesight for all its worth (A lions eyesight is 6 x more sensitive to light than humans). But through all of this, being the lion is mostly about having the courage to continue down your right path, even though it’s scary and unknown. We can so often know what to do but putting the even the best laid plans into action can be a frightfully daunting task. The good news is that successful implementation of habits is a learned skill that can be improved on daily so that you can consistently move in the direction of your goal. With so much information out there at our finger tips knowledge is not the answer, it is the application and testing out of this knowledge that has the ability to transform lives. The more you can test, the more you pivot and calibrate based on the data you get back from the world. Being the lion is a principle that allows you to operate on this level, it’s a state where you push your boundaries, you do it anyway even though it is different, and you trust that there is more for you to bring to the world. Throughout this book and as you go about your daily life I want you to notice the area’s that you shy away from stepping out of your comfort zone, I want you to look out for area’s where you could add more value to other people’s lives and how you can adopt the be the lion mindset.

I want you to get in touch with your inner warrior or lion and in doing so you will challenge yourself to bring more to your life. It’s a way of living, achieved by carefully and purposefully aligning your daily habits to help you overcome big challenges head on.

 Be The Lion is your handbook for living large and in charge, a guide for connecting with your purpose and achieving outstanding outcomes. Above all, it will help you restructure your daily habits so that you can be the very best version of yourself and enable you to live the life you dream of.

To summarise, if you haven’t got the picture yet, this book is for anyone who wants more out of life and is hell-bent on achieving big, outlandish, supersized, colossal levels of success in any area of their life that they chose.

Ready to kick some ass?

Ready to Be The Lion?

Share your journey and show your support others using the hashtag #bethelion and tag @timjscastle