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Happy birthday to Unleash Your Awesome!

A dark-haired woman stands in front of a concrete wall that has been painted to resemble a jungle. She is holding a copy of the book 'Unleash Your Awesome' in front of her face, so that only her eyes are peeking out - she appears to be smiling broadly.
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Happy birthday to Unleash Your Awesome! It’s hard to believe that my first book is now a year old!

The first month was a blur of activity – from shipping out copies of the book on launch day, to coming down with my first bout of Covid a week later and realising amidst the fug of illness I’d sold out and needed new stock ASAP! 

Thank goodness for Amazon’s print-on-demand service, and author pricing – I was able to get a set of copies shipped over to cover the shortfall, while my amazing New Zealand-based printer prepped the next print run. 

At last count, over 250 paperback copies have departed from my home office to every corner of New Zealand, and, increasingly, the world. Not to mention sales of the eBook and audiobook – they’re turning up in libraries, cars, and homes on every continent!

And in the last twelve months, it’s been my absolute delight to work with fantastic individuals and organisations to help them unleash their awesome by getting up close and personal with their strengths, and putting them to work in new ways.

Why I wrote Unleash Your Awesome

Here’s something you might not know about book-writing: unless you’re Stephen King, Kristen Hannah, or someone else really well-known, publishing a book can cost the author more than they make back in sales, sometimes to a very significant level. That’s certainly the case for me!

So why did I do it? Well, I recognise that not everyone has the time, energy, and resources to be able to work with me one-on-one, or bring me into their organisation. So writing a book was a fantastic way to spread the word – and even more so now that it is being stocked in libraries, including my local Auckland Libraries. 

For me, it was more important to get the message of personal strengths out to as many people as possible than it was to only share the message with those who could afford to pay me as a coach or trainer.

And an unexpected side benefit was that the writing process helped me clarify my thinking in ways that might have taken me years to do if I’d stuck with my “day job” of coaching and training.

Reader feedback

One of the constant sources of delight for me has been the feedback I’ve had from readers, in the form of online reviews, or emails and DMs. Here’s a selection of the feedback:

Unleash Your Awesome is the kind of book to keep within easy reach, because you'll keep referring back to it on a regular basis. This book has helped me understand myself SO much better, and empowers me to spend more time in my "zone of genius" and give less energy to the areas that I don't enjoy and am not good at (and don't want to be!). Using this in conjunction with the Strengths Deck is helping me unleash my own awesome into the world.
Carley Nicholson
I’m a big fan of using strengths, as an individual and with a team. I was keen to see and learn more about what this adds to the existing information on strengths. It does add more and the functionality is a great appeal. This book takes you through the impact of knowing and using your strengths from the start. It combines with the Strengths Deck cards and is highly practical and action focused. Reflecting on other strengths tools, it explains the wholeness in the approach and point of difference for The Strengths Deck. Making the topic and its applicability pragmatic without oversimplifying it, the tone is encouraging and realistic. There is so much in this book, once you’re finished you’ll dip in and out and use it regularly.
Katie Quinney
This book really drew me in. It was easy to read and keep reading. It is written with a superb flow. It's absolutely the practical guide that Daria promises it to be. I have not yet completed the exercise but will certainly do so as everything you need is in the book. It's left me curious to see how it plays out and confident I can do the work with just the book and a few easily accessible tools like pen and paper. However, here's the real boom - I really want to do this work with Daria now. I feel like I have got to know her well reading this book.
Jenny Miller
This book has already made such a massive difference to my life! Reading it and doing the Strengths Deck made me realise that I've been spending a lot of time on things that sit in my Zone of Reputation - things I'm good at but don't light me up. I've already taken big steps towards focusing more on my Zone of Genius and I can feel the difference! Easy to read, really actionable and genuinely very awesome!
Verity Craft
Having had the pleasure of being coached one-on-one by Daria, I felt her book had a lot to live up to. However, she's succeeded here in bringing the magic of working with her into an accessible resource that you can carry around and continuously refer back to. There's so much value in understanding your strengths, utilising them well and understanding where you're over-using them too. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking to achieve their best work, without simply having to hustle harder!
Christina Wedgwood
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Want to get your hands on a copy?

Unleash Your Awesome is available as a paperback (shipping from my office in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, or Amazon print-on-demand), eBook (from all the usual outlets) and audiobook (again, the usual suspects!)

Find all the options listed over on this page, or head to my Store to pick up your copy of Unleash Your Awesome, or to grab the Awesome bundle with a set of The Strengths Deck cards too!

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