Not another framework
The book doesn't tell you what to do. It confronts your thinking, asks deep questions and provokes reflection, so you design a life that feels authentic to you.
Coming soon
Available on release day from
WaterstonesTheVillain
How to Stop Fighting Yourself and Start Living.
A brutally honest guide to owning the villain in you. That part of your brain that clings to control and calls it peace.
“If your peace depends on everything going right, it's not peace, it's control.”
What's inside
The villain has many masks
Sometimes it's a person. Sometimes it's the drink after work, the phone, the grief you haven't faced, or the quiet feeling that you're not enough. The rules stay the same.
Steady in uncertainty
Built on a decade of conversations with psychologists, negotiators and influencers, plus nearly three decades in high-pressure work. It's aimed at our two biggest headaches: other people, and change.
The chapters
Part I
The Problem
- Maybe I'm the Villain
- The World Won't Shut Up
Part II
Seeing Clearly
- Who You Are When Nobody's Watching
- Have Faith in the Dots
- Snip the Strings
- Pull the Strings
Part III
The Villain's Toolkit
- Why You Need a Villain
- The Obstacle is the Bird
- Don't Create a Monster
- Give Your Villain a Name
- Absorbing Your Enemy
- The Process Is the Prize
- The Invisible Influence
Part IV
Integration
- The Day You Stop Fighting Yourself
- The Reframe Game
- Living with Your Villain
- The Hero Who Forgot the Cape
About James
A family man, entrepreneur and lecturer, James is a secular spiritualist with a fascination for stoicism in line with modern-day values. He lives on the coast of West Sussex in the UK with his family.
After nearly three decades in some of the most challenging environments in the software industry, he launched a business whose mentorship programme became known for reframing how people think and influence, at work and at home. For the last ten years he has been building a case for navigating the chaos of life, the source of everything in this book.