Would you thrive on a typical 9-to-5 schedule? For Edward Slingerland, his answer would be no – the fact that he is on the faculty of two separate universities is proof of that. Not to mention, he is a sinologist and religious studies professor who originally studied molecular biology. After discovering himself, he learned that it is okay to change course if your passion is elsewhere. As he says: “What does your preferred day look like?” – answering that will lead to what you are meant to do.

Being engulfed in inspiration is how Alex Cordero works, as an author. It sounds easy, right? But this journey can take years for Alex to write a book – writers’ block is not a matter of if, but when. However, such a challenge is nothing new to him, as someone who once had aspirations of being a billionaire and golf professional. Realizing how difficult it would be to achieve those goals, he learned to use the lessons of having patience and pivoting his goals to make them more achievable.

Greg Barnsdale is no ordinary author – his topic deals with death, based on his experiences in the funeral and financial planning industries. This has posed a challenge in reaching a target market, which he learned to tackle through writing courses. After that, it was just a matter of learning how to put a book together – literally.