One message we hear over and over around us is “Change”. More than at any other time in history, on all fronts – personal, social, environmental – we seem to be mandated to make committed and continual changes.

For as the logic dictates, ‘unless we change where we are going, we’ll end up exactly where we are heading’.

But what does that really mean?

Beyond the clichés and tired expressions, how capable are we of changing?
How likely are we in creating our life by design, rather than default?
How capable are we of self-actualization?

Surveys show for example that 98% of people who make New Year’s Resolutions never complete them. Of the people who set other goals, 93% never come to see them realized. Most alarmingly, even in literally do or die situations, almost 9 out of 10 people cannot maintain a change - like changing some simple aspects of one’s diet.

While it seems like almost everyone has some advice for what changes we 'should' be making for a healthier, more effective and fulfilling life - what is the purpose of all these ‘facts and suggestions’, when the odds are very small, that we will actually DO what we 'know better’?

There is a world of difference between knowing what to do, and doing what you know. This is an issue that has challenged me both personally and professionally.

As an executive coach, to give out advice for change was all too easy - but few were able to follow up on what was needed. In fact, it seemed like in most cases, the people I worked with, innately knew what better actions to choose anyway.

And I needed not to look into the lives of others either, for I knew within my own personal life, that change efforts are most often fleeting....

Which begged the question, ‘how can we empower the changes we want, for good?’

What do we actually know, about the small percentage who can and do change, for the better? That is, the ‘rags to riches’ stories… the people who came from ‘disadvantaged’ life positions - yet rose to great heights of ‘self-actualization’?

• What are they doing differently?
• How are they thinking and processing things?
• How are they being? How can we then emulate their ways and thereby dramatically increase our own probability of success?

To answer this question, I sought to understand this process of self-actualization, from a number of perspectives:

First, I sought to understand what did the previous researchers, who worked with high-achievers and self-actualizers discover? In the 20th century there have been a number of major research projects that had direct access to some of the most brilliant minds of all times, and they have analyzed their characteristics and ways of being, for periods of two decades or more.

I sought to select the most intensive of these research projects, that furthermore influenced the success of many others afterwards – and then to mine their findings, for clues.

Second, due to the human potential movement and the newly emerging practice of life-coaching, there have also been many practical applications and explorations in change. There are a handful of coaches out there that are able to support massive turnarounds in the achievement of others. Just like in sport, great coaches shape great winners.

I sought to select a set of effective coaches that were highly successful in helping their clients with their change efforts and to contrast them with other coaches that were much less effective.

Third, I took my own experiences and experiments with change and put them to close scrutiny. From the knowledge I amassed on the subject, I sought to distill these ideas and to discover the key principles - what works, what makes little difference, what were the causes and the effects...

I sought to put myself to the test, and to let my own nature teach me anew.

This three staged research project, has taken over five years.

During this period, I undertook a Masters in Education research project, where I coded, dissected and correlated the research findings of arguably the most influential investigators into greatness of last century, Napoleon Hill and Abraham Maslow.

Napoleon Hill was a ‘street-smart’ journalist, entrusted by Andrew Carnegie to undertake a twenty year research into hundreds of the highest-achievers of the early 1900s and created a profound system for change that has influenced the lives of millions.

Napoleon Hill's whole body of ideas were then contrasted with Abraham Maslow - one of the first pioneers of positive psychology and the ‘academic-smart’ who also spend over twenty years investigating the psychology of the truly healthy, fulfilled and happy. I extracted what both of these giant researchers had realized and how they fit together.

Iin turn, these ideas were then contrasted with another research, a Masters of Business where I set up focus groups with some of Australia’s most successful coaches, as well as ones who were struggling... I took notes and observed what made some coaches effective in their work of helping their clients change, and what didn’t.

Hundreds and hundreds of pages of notes, interviews and observations began painting a new picture of change, but, still … I wasn’t quite clear. As the story goes, my cup was full and nothing was going in.

For this purpose, I left these annotations and essays aside, and went into the Tasmanian wilderness for a period of 40 days. I undertook a ‘Vision Quest’, in the styling of the old masters. There, I began to really understand things like anew…

The practical conclusions of this project is right here on this website. It is a free online course that leads you through the strategic steps and insights you need to know, for

How to Make Change Happen:
7 Fundamental Insights for Changing Your Life, for Good

And to participate in our forum for change, all you need, is to simply register with your name and email below.
I look forward to your company on the other side.

With love,
John Angheli

Join the self-actualizers
	Name: eMail:

You must want to the very best you are capable of becoming. If you plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life.
Abraham Maslow