Guest Profile

Elizabeth Hanley

Elizabeth Hanley was born in a small seaside town in Montenegro, Europe. As a child Hanley was profoundly affected by her visits to the local library; she found unending freedom while exploring new worlds in the books she read. After her father resigned from the Navy her family settled in Australia. Old European mores that had previously defined Elizabeths life no longer applied in Australia; girls had the same opportunity as boys, and the boys were expected to help with the housework. Even so, Hanley's parents assumed they would "arrange" her marriage after high school.


Elizabeth, however, escaped to the University of Queensland and took her BA degree. She continued her studies at University of Technology, Queensland and completed a post graduate diploma in Library and Information Science. Her subsequent career as a Senior Research Librarian encompassed corporate, educational and public libraries.


During those professional years Hanley experienced life-changing problems that quickly hit, one after another. First, management at her workplace informed her that due to the economic downturn, 1 of 3 employees would be losing their jobs - and for months no one knew who was going to made redundant. Around the same time the house Elizabeth was renting was up for sale, so she had to move out. And third, she could see the writing was on the wall with her boyfriend; it was time for them to part ways.


During this time Hanley often felt upset, unhappy, and stressed. Home early from work one day she turned the TV on and caught the end of a Dr. Phil show. Dr. Phil asked "if you owned a business and the manager was running it into the ground, would you keep them working for you, or fire them?" Dr. Phil then said "you are the manager of your life are you getting the results you want? Do you have happiness, success and good health? Would you keep hiring yourself, or would you fire yourself?"


Hanley states, "That was a pivotal moment for me. I remember thinking 'oh, I am so fired' I realized that problems were sucking the joy out of my life. I was a terrible life manager." Instead of letting her problems control her life, Hanley fired her old self and decided to manage her life. Being a research librarian, Elizabeth decided to embark upon a monumental research effort that resulted in profound personal transformation. Hanley studied over 200 self-help books: out of this study she distilled her 'four simple tips' that are the basis for her first book, No Problem


Currently Elizabeth Hanley lives with her husband and dogs in Sydney. She is a full-time author with a hobby of building her own library. She loves to go to bookshops, books sales, garage sales anywhere she can to find books. Beyond that Hanley believes, "It is very important to laugh every day, as a reminder, I included cartoons and jokes in the book. I watch at least one half hour of a US television sitcom. No one does comedy like Americans" Hanley desires to help as many people as possible. Through her own transformation she has found the secret to living a "No Problem" life and hopes that by reading her book others will too.