In 2011 the Capstone imprint of John Wiley & Sons, Ltd published What's Stopping You?, a book exploring why smart people often fail to reach their potential. This was Robert Kelsey's first successful book after what he perceived as the failure of his debut book, a lad-lit comedy detailing his life as a British investment banker in New York. Indeed, that book – The Pursuit of Happiness – was written to explain Robert's perceived failure as a banker: one selling highly toxic financial products to the likes of Enron.

Notice the word ‘perceived’ in the above descriptions. In both cases it was Robert's self-beliefs that condemned his pursuits as failures – resulting in actions that, indeed, confirmed that status. Yet the link between these career disasters and the success of What's Stopping You? is Robert's noble attempt to research and explain his own insecurities. This is a personal journey – one in which he concluded that behind every career and academic disaster, as well as every seemingly unsustainable success, lay his deep lack of confidence. He also realized that his early-life experiences were trapping him in a cycle of low self-esteem – generating either low-attainment (further knocking his confidence) or modest attainment (resulting in hubris and near-certain disaster).

Get Things Done is the third of Robert's series of books looking into his personal history, and the psychology and early-life conditioning that created such an ineffective young adult. Oddly, of the mental barriers to his own success, he realized this is the easiest to overcome: once motivated to do so, and once able to adopt the rather simple traits and attributes of highly effective people. While fear of failure is an innate condition we must learn to accept and navigate, and confidence an alchemy we can create only once we learn to discriminate, Robert's view is that getting things done is little more than a process involving the generation of plans and the adoption of habits based on our desires. Motivation is the key, and it's here where Kelsey starts his journey towards redemption – once he's slain a few myths regarding the causes of poor productivity.

Robert runs a financial PR agency in the City of London and lives with his wife and two boys in London and Suffolk. Having overcome his phobia of public speaking, he also gives the occasional talk.