About the Author Michael O'Hagan.

Welcome. I'm Michael O'Hagan (Mike) and this is Creating A Wonderful Life blog site about my book of the same name. As you've probably guessed it is entirely about the book released on 2nd October 2015 and its related news, my thoughts and updates. It is available as a paperback and Kindle ebook on Amazon and in good bookshops worldwide.

I was born in England during the warm sunny Autumn of 1958 to working class parents. My father was an Engineer and we all moved as a family to where his work was. Maybe because of work pressures, maybe because of other issues that I don't know about, he turned to alcohol and became an alcoholic; and later very violent towards my Mother and me. As a result my parents separated in 1967 and it was from this point onwards that I became creative, firstly in Painting and Drawing (winning a couple of competitions in local newspapers) and later at Secondary School in descriptive writing. I still paint (in acrylics on large canvases). You can see my paintings on this website www.mike-ohagan.com 

When I left school in 1975 my first thought was get a job to provide more income for my family (my Mother, my younger brother and myself); and I took what work was available (as a shop assistant in a Bicycle shop). 

From the age of seventeen I realised that I was not realising my full potential. I knew I was far better than what my life at that time represented and I was determined to do something about it; my journey with self-development began. I  read everything I could get my hands on from local and central libraries. I listened to cassette tapes on my Sony Walkman and watched inspirational videos of seminars and events when my Mum had gone to bed. I turned into the biggest learning machine on personal development that you could possibly imagine and sucked in everything I could find.

As I developed and evolved, I realised that to progress up the management tree (and to earn even more money to provide for my growing family) I needed qualifications and experiences that I didn't have to get a better job. Personal development had switched me on to my potential because I was not a model student at school; although I was well behaved and was a Prefect, I was mostly only interested in music, racing motorcycles and girls; not always in that order. 

My partner at the time and friends thought I'd gone mad. I was driven and relentless and quickly started improving my life. Looking back, it may have been the events of my childhood that caused my frustration with where I was; but I didn't blame anyone. I knew that I was at the beginning and what happened in the future was down to me. That's why I'm proud (and yes excited) to say I know what works in the self improvement field and what doesn't and why. In this book you'll see exactly what works for ordinary people who want a better life. What's happened in your past does not matter, only what you do from this point onwards counts. In the book you'll also read through worked examples including things that happened to me and what I did; anyway let's back to my story . . . .  . 

In my early twenties I had a disastrously failed marriage that broke the hearts of everyone involved. Not a happy period in my private life and to this day I still have some scars; as does everyone else involved. The rest of this episode will have to wait for my Biography.

Later when I was In my late twenties with a much better job, I completed a BSc with the Open University and later an HND at Reading University. These qualifications did help my scramble up the management tree and gain better jobs; but now I had my sights firmly set on the top job, being the Managing Director; so I went back to school and worked hard for an MBA. All along I was still vacuuming up everything that I could on personal improvement to give me the edge in life and improve my personal performance.

In my late thirties I was delivering in-house lunch time talk sessions in the company I worked for about personal development and working smarter. During this period of rapid business change / downsizing and Business Process Re-Engineering, I qualified both as a Total Quality Management and a European Foundation Quality Model Practitioner. I helped a few businesses save £ Millions by changing the way things were done and also helped people get the best from their working lives.

I would also like to say that I had some fantastic Mentors along the way and you'll be able to read the full story of how they helped and guided me in my Biography. I also had some detractors and they also unwittingly and unknowingly helped me (which was of course not their intention).

After a few Director Level roles in British and International Companies I found myself as an MD of a British Media Business. Near this peak, my life was changed beyond all recognition by a minor stroke. The one thing life had taught me up to that point was never give up. So I didn't. That happened when I was just Forty-four, it left me disabled and unable to talk properly. I lost about eighteen months and have no memories of that period. I remember waking up one day thinking exactly what I had thought when I was seventeen; "I am better than what my life is showing right now and it's down to me to improve my situation." 

That kick-started me and I got my family to get out all my self development stuff and I re-read it slowly and listened to it again and this time I had the Internet to help me. It took years to find the way through the maze both internally and externally. Top of the list was to talk again.

Now many years later, having learnt to talk effectively again, and walk (even if shakily because I can't feel my legs), and with a few on-going health challenges; I count myself very lucky because I knew all about human psychology and how to use self improvement methods and I had great people around me. I used these extensively and still do to keep me where I need to be for my partner and for my children.

I have also rediscovered my creativity. I paint big pictures when I can and I write when I can. My first book was about how to groom and look after my best friends, my Border Terriers, who've been with me on this interesting journey for over fourteen years. You can find that book here Grooming Your Border Terrier.

Available on Amazon now.

This is my second book Creating A Wonderful Life. It does what it says on the tin; it gives you all the learning and tools you'll need to create your own wonderful life. It explains the methods and life tools that have worked for me and others that I helped. 

I've started working on my first Novel (a tight thriller) and more slowly I'm rediscovering my past with help from family and friends to write my full biography. 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed reading about me and will go on to explore Creating A Wonderful Life. Have a great day/

Cheers

Michael O'Hagan
Follow me on twitter here: @WriterMikeO

Addendum:

My Career History (latest first). 

• Retired.
• Managing Director of The Local Channel.
• Programme Director at TUI (Thomson Holidays).
• Operations Director at Big Blue Steel Tiger.
• Operations Director at Valtech Ltd.
• Senior Engineer at Hunting Engineering.
• Technician at Hunting Engineering.
• Shop Assistant / Bicycle Mechanic at Halfords.

I left school with only 3 GCSE's but I educated myself with the Open University (for a BSc) and Reading University (for an HND & MBA). I learned from great people that I worked with and famous people like Anthony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ken Blanchard, Stephen R Covey, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill and Tony Buzan who knows more about how your brain works than anyone I've ever met.

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