TRICIA TAYLOR-SHIPLEY AUTHOR & KEYNOTE SPEAKER
THE HIDDEN FORCES THAT SHAPE OUR DESTINATION
Why knowing where you want to go isn't always enough to get you there!
THE PROBLEM BENEATH THE PROBLEM
Many capable, hardworking people know what they want. They have ambitions, ideas and changes they would love to make. Yet despite their best intentions, they procrastinate, hold back, stay invisible, repeat familiar patterns or find themselves wondering:
"How did I end up here... again?"
We often assume the answer is more confidence, more motivation, more discipline or simply trying harder.
But what if we're trying to solve the wrong problem?
In her signature keynote, The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Destination, Tricia Taylor-Shipley explores how meanings we attach to early experiences can develop into stories and beliefs that quietly influence our fears, protective behaviours and choices — sometimes for decades.
Using the powerful metaphor of railway Points, Tricia shows how we can consciously choose a destination while unseen patterns continue directing us towards somewhere else.
WHO IS THIS KEYNOTE FOR?
This keynote is particularly relevant for audiences experiencing change, transition or a sense that there should be more — especially capable people who have worked hard, achieved much and yet find themselves questioning whether the direction they're travelling still reflects who they are and where they want to go.
It speaks particularly strongly to audiences interested in:
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CHANGE & TRANSITION - resilience and navigating change
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CONFIDENCE & GROWTH - confidence and self-belief
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PURPOSE & ALIGNMENT - wellbeing and fulfilment
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HIDDEN BARRIERS - overcoming procrastination, perfectionism and fear of visibility
The keynote can be adapted for corporate and professional audiences, women's networks, conferences, business communities and personal-development events.
WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOUR AUDIENCE
Organisations invest considerable energy in helping people move forward — setting goals, developing skills, building confidence and encouraging change.
But lasting change can be difficult when the behaviour we see on the surface isn't the whole story.
Someone who appears to lack confidence may actually be protecting themselves from failure.
Someone procrastinating may care deeply about the outcome.
Someone resisting change may be responding to an old story about what feels safe.
Tricia invites audiences to replace judgement with curiosity and ask a different question:
Not "What's wrong with me?"
But "What's directing me?"
Through storytelling, psychology and a memorable railway metaphor, audiences discover how experiences can acquire meaning, how those meanings can influence beliefs and behaviour, and how the resulting outcomes can become further "evidence" that reinforces the original story.
Once we begin to see the pattern, we have the possibility of changing it.
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A fresh understanding of why hard work and good intentions don't always produce the destination we expect.
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A simple way of recognising the hidden "Points" that may be influencing their direction.
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Greater understanding of procrastination, perfectionism, fear and other protective behaviours.
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AUDIENCE TAKEAWAYS
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Three powerful questions for examining the gap between where they say they want to go and where their repeated choices are actually taking them.​
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A practical first step: shine a light on what's directing you before trying to change it.​
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A hopeful reminder that transformation doesn't always require changing everything. Sometimes a relatively small shift can begin changing the route.
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ABOUT TRICIA
Tricia Taylor-Shipley brings together professional knowledge and an extraordinary lived journey.
With two degrees in Psychology, she has spent years studying human behaviour. But some of her greatest lessons came not from textbooks, but from her own life.
From the little girl who quietly concluded she wasn't "enough", through achievement, loss and rebuilding, Tricia spent decades without realising that an old story was still influencing her direction.
Today she combines lived experience, psychological insight and the powerful metaphor of railway Points to help audiences recognise the hidden forces influencing their own direction.
Her message is ultimately one of possibility: our past may have influenced our direction, but it doesn't have to determine our destination.
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Your past may have set your Points — but it doesn't have to influence your future destination.
Audiences will leave with:
AUTHOR OF THE RE-ORIENT EXPRESS
The Train. The Track. The Transformation.
The Re-Orient Express takes readers on a journey of self-discovery, exploring the beliefs, fears and patterns that can quietly influence the direction of our lives.
Blending psychology, personal experience and practical reflection, the book invites readers to recognise what may be keeping them on an old track — and discover that changing direction is always possible.
The book and keynote share one powerful message:
It’s never too late to understand what’s been directing you — and choose a different destination.
Speaker Resources
Planning an event or considering Tricia for your audience?
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Bring The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Destination to your audience.
A thought-provoking keynote combining storytelling, psychology and the memorable metaphor of railway Points — helping audiences recognise what may be quietly directing them and discover that changing direction is possible.