I have some news I've been waiting a long time to share. My book, How to Change Your Life in Just 20 Minutes a Day: A Practical Guide to Small Steps, Consistent Habits, and Real Transformation, is out now on Amazon Kindle, and the paperback and hardcover editions are coming in the next few days.
True to its title, it's a 20 minute read. You can finish the whole book in the same amount of time it asks you to give yourself each day.
Get the Kindle edition today: How to Change Your Life in Just 20 Minutes a Day on Amazon. Paperback and hardcover will be available soon, and I'll update this post as soon as they're live.
Why I Wrote This Book
If you've read my surgery story, you know where I started. Ten years of Crohn's disease, hospital stays, TPN, and a care team that eventually suggested I meet with a hospice nurse. In 2008 I chose surgery instead, and it saved my life.
But surgery was only the beginning. When I came home, I was weak, underweight, and starting over in almost every part of my life. I didn't need a giant plan. I needed something small enough that I could actually do it, even on the hard days.
That's where 20 minutes a day came from. This book is the philosophy I lived by while I put my life back together, written down so you can use it too.
How 20 Minutes a Day Helped Me Recover
In those early weeks after surgery, everything felt big. Walking felt big. Eating felt big. Thinking about the future felt huge. Twenty minutes was something I could commit to. Twenty minutes of walking. Twenty minutes of learning how to care for my stoma. Twenty minutes of moving my body a little more than the day before.
Those small blocks of time added up. Day by day, I got stronger. I learned what to eat (I wrote about that in my guide on what to eat after ostomy surgery), I got my confidence back, and I started to believe I could have a full life again.
How It Helped Me Start a Business
The same habit is how I started designing ostomy support belts in 2009. I didn't wake up one day with a company. I spent time every day working on a problem I lived with myself: I wanted a belt that would keep my pouch secure while I surfed, trained and lived an active life.
Those daily sessions turned into prototypes, then products, then a business. Today that work lives on in HIRO ostomy belts and O'Hamill Inc., and it all grew from showing up a little bit every day.
How It Helped Me Take Up Hobbies and Truly Live Again
Once I had my health back, I used the same approach for the things that make life fun. I got back in the ocean and surfing. I started teaching martial arts. I took up fire performance and now perform in front of crowds. I play tennis and pickleball, travel, and chase my kids around water parks.
None of that happened overnight. Each one started with a few minutes a day. You can read about a few of those adventures in playing tennis with an ostomy, traveling with an ostomy, and my water park day with my kids.
Who This Book Is For
- Anyone recovering from surgery or illness who feels like they're starting over.
- New ostomates who are wondering if they'll ever feel like themselves again. (If that's you, my post on whether you should be afraid of ostomy surgery is a good place to start too.)
- People with a goal they keep putting off, like a business, a hobby, or getting healthy.
- Anyone who feels stuck and wants a simple, realistic way to start moving forward.
You don't need an ostomy to get something out of this book. But if you have one, I hope it shows you what's possible.
Where to Get It
The Kindle edition is available now on Amazon. The paperback and hardcover will follow in the next few days. If you read it, I'd be grateful if you left a review on Amazon. It helps other people find the book.
And if you're going through a hard season right now, you don't have to do it alone. The UOAA New Ostomy Patient Guide and a local support group are great places to start, and you can always reach out to me directly.
Twenty minutes a day changed my life. I hope it changes yours.
Mahalo for reading.
Richard O'Hamill