I was reflecting on the many video stories our past graduates had sent in for our new website and member’s platform. Honestly, it really had an impact on me, and I was humbled by both the number of video testimonials, but – more importantly – the private notes that accompanied many of them. They were powerful personal accounts of how the personal development insights, knowledge and the life skills learnt and developed while being a student and a member of UKCPD have had such a profound and positive effect in their lives.
After a quarter of a century of our work here at UKCPD, it felt like the UKCPD team have achieved something really meaningful, and I needed to take a little time to reflect and understand what it meant to me, personally.
That reflective space led me to write the following article and share a little of my personal story.
So, let’s have a real conversation. Because what I’m about to share with you isn’t marketing fluff or BS. It’s not the usual polished “about me” spiel you find on websites or LinkedIn profiles. This is personal. It’s real. And it’s why I care so deeply about what we do here at UKCPD and personal development generally — why it’s not just my job, but my life’s work.
Because personal development… saved my life.
From Surviving to Searching
Before the trainings, the books, the courses and the logos… I was lost. I didn’t always have the confidence you might see on stage or hear in a webinar. I wasn’t always the bloke helping others find clarity — I was the one searching for it.
Years ago, I found myself in a place many of us know too well: burnt out, directionless, quietly battling with self-doubt. From the outside, it looked fine — career ticking along, bills paid. But inside? It was a fog. A gnawing sense that something was missing. That I was missing.
I remember lying awake at 3am — night after night — asking questions I didn’t know how to answer:
- “Is this it?”
- “What am I here for?”
- “Who even am I anymore?”
Big, existential stuff. But no roadmap to navigate it.
Like many people, I used work to block out my frustration and tried to make this my focus and to give my life more meaning. I worked 3 jobs, basically working round the clock — until, yep, you guessed it — I became ill.
Months of rest and recuperation followed, and to pass the time I read a book on Personal Development, it caught my imagination, this led to another, then another and the pieces of the jigsaw began to come together and a clear picture of who I was and what was important to me emerged.
Finding the Tools – and My Truth
Then I stumbled across a seminar on NLP — Neuro-Linguistic Programming. My then employer had sent me on a course, called Change Management, it was an early version of NLP training. I didn’t expect much. But something shifted that day. For the first time, someone spoke in a way that made sense of what I’d been feeling. They weren’t just talking about mindset — they were giving us tools to change it.
And it was like someone had finally handed me a mirror — not to look at who I was pretending to be, but who I really was underneath all the noise. I discovered the limiting beliefs that were running the show behind the scenes. I found a way to change the script.
The early ideas that I now talk about a lot of the time in our Be Inspired Group events, how to build a Personal Philosophy For Success — began right there, and have evolved into a full model of personal development that is one of the mainstays of our training programme schedule.
From there, I dived in headfirst — NLP, coaching, leadership models, positive psychology, emotional intelligence… I couldn’t get enough. Not just to “fix” myself, but because I was waking up to something much bigger: transformation is possible. And not just for me — for anyone.
The Birth of UKCPD
Fast forward a few years, and I realised I didn’t just want to use this work for myself — I wanted to teach it. To create a space where people could come, like I once did, seeking answers — and leave with clarity, purpose, and power.
That’s when the UK College of Personal Development was born.
No fancy investors. No flashy launch. Just a clear mission:
To help people become the best version of themselves — personally and professionally.
We started small, with one or two trainings a year. A hired room. Flipcharts. Lots of tea and biscuits.
But what we lacked in scale, we made up for in heart. And word spread. Because when people feel genuine transformation, they tell others. It’s infectious.
Today, we’ve trained thousands of students, run internationally recognised programmes, developed original coaching models like the WHAT Coaching Method™ and the Generative Coaching Cycle™, and partnered with awarding bodies such as the ILM, The Association For Coaching and the Association For NLP.
And yes — we’ve won a few awards along the way. It’s humbling. But honestly? The real reward is the stories our students write with their lives.
Student Stories That Inspire Me Daily
Let me tell you about Sarah.
Sarah came to one of our NLP Practitioner courses looking utterly defeated. Recently made redundant, mid-divorce, kids to support. She sat at the back, barely spoke for the first day.
But something shifted when we did the Limiting Beliefs process. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She had been holding onto a story since childhood that she “wasn’t good enough” — and she realised it had been running her entire adult life.
Six months later, she messaged me to say she’d started her own coaching business — and booked her first paying client. A year after that, she was fully self-employed, helping women just like her rebuild after loss.
Or take James. Senior manager. Stressed, cynical, about to quit. He came on our NLP Practitioner & Coaching Diploma course, I think because his HR director had suggested he needed to “do some work on his leadership skill set”. I’ll admit, he was a tough nut at first.
But then he got it. Not just the models — the human stuff. Empathy. Vision. Presence. Six months later, he was promoted. But more importantly, he said this to me:
“Tony, I feel like I have woken up – I actually like who I am again.”
That’s the power of this work. It’s not just about external success — though that often follows — it’s about internal alignment. Coming home to yourself.
More Than a Course — Something Real
What we do at UKCPD isn’t just skills training. It’s life re-training.
We help people:
- Resolve limiting beliefs
- Clarify their vision and values
- Communicate powerfully
- Coach with integrity and impact
- Lead with confidence and authenticity
- Create businesses, lives and legacies they’re proud of
And we do it the UKCPD way — with heart, humour, humanity, and that slightly stubborn belief that everyone has untapped greatness inside them.
We use frameworks like the Logical Levels, the Imagineering model, outcome-setting processes like APROCESS, and powerful questioning techniques — not to impress people, but to empower them.
So Why Am I Still Here?
Because every time I see a student light up with possibility, every time someone says, “I didn’t think I could, but I did,” every time someone steps into their future with courage… it takes me back to my own first steps.
This work gave me my life back. Now I get to spend my life giving it to others.
And that’s a purpose worth waking up for.
A Final Thought And Invitation
If you’re reading this and wondering if you’re too broken, too old, too far gone, or too stuck — hear me now:
You are not your past. You are not your limiting beliefs. You are not the story someone else gave you.
You are powerful. You are wise. And you are needed.
So… are you ready to take the next step?
Because we’re here. And we believe in you — sometimes even before you believe in yourself.
Let’s begin.
— Tony
