Special Edition: My Book Launch with Penguin Random House

Hello from beautiful Hong Kong 🇭🇰

Today's newsletter is very special to me because I just published my book, The Anti-Procrastinator, with Penguin Random House.

More than just a book, it's a dream come true, and I know many of you share the same dream, so today, I’m pulling the curtain and inviting you to my backstage.

I started writing at the end of 2022 when I was unemployed in Australia, and a few months later, I self-published my first book on Amazon, The Lemon Tree Mindset, giving birth to my Substack.

Since then, I've run a few marathons on the keyboard:

• February 2023: The Lemon Tree Mindset (self-published)

• May 2023: Conquering Your Burnout (self-published)

• October 2023: From Zero To Amazon Bestseller (self-published)

• December 2023: The Flight Home (Earnshaw Books)

• January 2025: The Anti-Procrastinator (Penguin Random House)

All this looks fab in the display window.

However, what you don't see are the dozens of rejections from publishers and the digital parade of "no's," which I'm very proud of because they helped me get where I am today.

Many people ask me how a new author, an underdog landed a contract with one of the Big Five, and the truth is, the story isn't very sexy.

I wasn't "discovered."

I wasn’t approached by anyone.

Instead, I pitched myself and became my best ambassador.

I kept knocking on doors for a year until finally, in January 2024, the big door opened: that of the largest publishing house on the planet.

Through my LinkedIn network, I reached out to the publisher in my region, Asia, and went all in with a bold plan. When Nora accepted my invitation for a call, I knew it was a golden opportunity. But I had no clue about what I was going to write yet.

So when she asked me:

"And what is your book about?"

I confessed that I didn't have one yet. Instead, I told her that I would love to know what they are looking for within the space of self-improvement so that I could write a book people would want to read.

So yeah, it was a gamble and a risky shot, but it worked.

Nora liked the unconventional approach and after a brief brainstorm on several topics, she asked me to send her a book proposal within two weeks.

That's the story of how The Anti-Procrastinator was born: one dream, one shot.

Exactly a year ago, we signed the contract, and I've spent the last twelve months working on my book (not procrastinating!), planning the launch, contacting international book fairs, and preparing for the big day with much excitement and some nervousness.

And the big day has finally arrived.

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About the Book

I’m over the moon to share with you a bit about The Procrastinator:

‘How do you get so much stuff done?’

As someone who juggles writing with public speaking, learning languages, exercising, traveling, and parenting, this is the number one question friends and strangers ask me.

In 2023 alone, I wrote over 300 articles on Medium and 400 posts on LinkedIn, published two books and three e-books, created my newsletter, and launched my memoir with a publisher. I also continued learning Mandarin weekly with an online tutor, grew my business as a public speaker, and traveled to seven countries across three continents. I exercised 295 days and ran a total of 2,144 kilometers. This happened while looking after my five- and six-year-olds.

This is not to brag.

It’s my life journal, what I have achieved in one year, 365 days. And you can too.

When people ask me how I do it, they are both awed and disappointed by the simplicity of my answer: It goes down to the thousands of small choices I make every day; choices that work for me because I have learned to know myself, my why, my strengths and my weaknesses, and my triggers, both positive and negative.

I know what drives me and what doesn’t.

I’m aware of my distractions, my emotional zones, and my default mindset.

I don’t always see my blind spots, but I know I have them, and ask for help to spot them and mitigate them.

I’m constantly wondering how I can make the most of the day and maximize our most precious and limited resource: time.

Productivity is misunderstood in society. It’s not about programming a human to perform like a machine, doing more, better, and faster, but pausing to understand yourself first so that you can lift your anchors and live a more fulfilling life in alignment with your values and your identity.

It starts and ends with you.

Anti-procrastination is not a skill—it’s a choice.

Your choice.

Would my morning routine and my productivity tips to beat procrastination work for you?

Probably not.

I will share some anti-procrastinators’ routines to illustrate my points, but this is not a framework for you to blindly implement and magically get results.

Self-awareness is the name of the game.

My vision for this book is for it to be your coach, your guide.

A good coach doesn’t give you the answers; they ask you the tough questions, and it’s up to you to do the thinking and find your answers.

A good coach doesn’t tell you where to go; they help you find the direction and course-correct when you are lost, but it’s up to you to choose your route and navigate through life.

A good coach doesn’t do the hard work and the heavy lifting for you; they equip you with the right tools, and it’s up to you to use your life compass, put the sails up, and flex your muscles.

A good coach doesn’t teach you; they help you open doors and broaden your horizon so that you can know yourself and become your best ambassador, your most constructive critic, and your most compassionate ally.

This book won’t tell you to wake up at 5 a.m.

This book won’t tell you to follow the Pomodoro Technique.

This book won’t tell you to borrow a proven productivity routine.

This book won’t tell you to do something for twenty-one days to build a habit.

This book won’t tell you what to do because I don’t know you, but you do, and you will hopefully find your answers between the lines by the time you reach the last page.

That’s my vision and my why for this book.

What this book will show you is the importance of knowing yourself and developing self-awareness. It will ask you thought-provoking questions that only you can answer.

It will show you how to look inward and dig deep into yourself and how to zoom out to look at the big picture so that you can understand and assess your environment.

It will challenge your thinking because in order to change your behavior, you must change your mindset first.

It will make you look ahead to know where you are headed and, more importantly, where you want to go because we only get one shot at this mystery called life, so you might as well create something epic, a unique canvas that becomes your legacy.

You will learn to look in the rear window to identify your blind spots and have a 360-degree view of yourself from a place of honesty, transparency, and vulnerability.

Throughout the following pages, you will discover strategies to beat procrastination I have learned from successful leaders, writers, athletes, and entrepreneurs.

However, you are expected to design your own life manual to go from A to B by sharpening your tools, lifting your anchors, and developing new skills that will help you sail smoothly.

Self-awareness is the most important skill for unlocking personal growth. You can’t find a solution if you don’t know what you are solving for.

If you don’t see what’s holding you back, you will never be able to move forward.

If you don’t understand where resistance comes from and what lies underneath the tip of the procrastination iceberg, you will always be paddling against the current.

If you don’t know what drives you, you will continue to live life moonwalking toward success under the illusion that you are moving forward when, in reality, you are drifting behind.

If you enjoyed what you read, you can purchase the ebook today on Amazon and support this new author in her anti-procrastination movement.

The paperback will be launched in March 2025.

Being an author is not easy, and every little bit of help goes a long way.

And if you are in Hong Kong on 26 February, you are invited to my official book launch at BOOKAZINE!

Thank you for your support. It means the world to me 🙏🏼