WHEN Davina McCall was sweating blood and tears in the biggest challenge of her life earlier this year – seven days of running, swimming and cycling across the UK for Sport Relief – there was one person she picked up the phone to every day. That person was Michael Heppell, and it was he who coached her through the psychology of the herculean effort.

It may have been Davina herself who had to break through barriers, often pushing herself to what seemed beyond her limits, but, without Michael giving her the tools to do this, it is questionable that she would have achieved her goal.

Having known the TV presenter for several years as both a mentor and friend, it was natural that Michael, who describes himself as a success coach, should have been the one to help her through. He says Davina is quick to acknowledge the impact he has had on her.

“Whenever we’re out and she introduces me to someone, she says, ‘this is the man who changed my life’,” says Michael, 47. “Davina is a remarkable person who made some massively brave decisions when I first coached her – the major ones being, ‘I’m leaving Big Brother, I’m changing agent and I’m going to have a massive re-think about what I’m going to do’.”

Far from being boastful about working with high-profile celebrities (he has also coached DJs Chris Evans and Sara Cox, YO! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe, and others whose names he can’t disclose), Michael shrugs this off, pointing out that they are “just people”. It was his desire to influence the lives of a million such people that first set him on the path to his current career.

HIS most famous book – How to Be Brilliant – originally published ten years ago, provided tools to be successful in the workplace. It has now been updated and re-released to mark a shift in society since its inception.

“The key thing is that it’s a very different world than it was ten years ago,” says Michael, who lives just outside Hexham. “We have been through a pretty tough recession and anybody who works knows that it’s harder than ever to maintain a job, harder than ever to get promoted, and harder than ever to get a pay rise. I think what we wanted to do with this book is say, ‘it’s still there for anybody who wants to go for it’.”

When he says “we”, Michael is referring to the partnership he has with his wife Christine.

It is she who does the writing, while Michael concentrates on verbal presentations, and yet it is Michael who, he admits, takes all the credit.

“Luckily, she has no ego,” he laughs. “Christine runs our business. She writes all our programmes and does all the technical support at events. I couldn’t write a book without Christine.”

The latest edition of How to Be Brilliant is much broader than the original, encompassing other areas of life beyond work, which Michael says was prompted by the feedback he and Christine received.

“What really made us think about who was reading it was online reviews from people like a 15-year-old girl who used it to build confidence with her friends, and a single mum.”

Now the book opens with eight key areas in which you are invited to rate yourself and outlines a 90-day plan to achieve success.

Michael recognises that things like finding a work-life balance are far from easy, but believes that, with the right tools, anyone can make positive changes.

“When I’m coaching people, I ask them to choose three things they want to be brilliant at,” he says. “I’m a parent. I want to be a brilliant dad. I want to be a brilliant husband – then it comes to my work.

“How to Be Brilliant is designed for people who are dissatisfied with parts of their lives – anybody who wakes up and thinks, ‘there’s got to be more than this’. It’s to give those people a helping hand. It’s not a magic wand – it’s a way of helping people get to where they want to get to.”

Michael and Christine take on four individual and two corporate clients a year, as well as staging 20 keynote presentations. Not many of these are in the region, which is a source of regret.

“We’ve done two jobs in the North-East in the last two years – we are mainly in London and we know all the crew on the East Coast mainline by name,” says Michael. “It’s a real shame. I wish we could do more in the North- East. That’s my passion. It’s where I’m from.”

WHILE he does a lot of travelling – he estimates that 25 per cent of his work is international – Michael remains close to his family in Consett, where he grew up. A roofing contractor’s son, he was destined for the family business until, at 22, he got a job as a youth worker for the Boys’ Brigade, setting in motion a long association with charities. Being surrounded by wealthy philanthropists sparked Michael’s interest and a life-changing moment was meeting engineer David Brown.

“He asked me what I was doing for my own personal development,” says Michael.

“He suggested that I read a couple of books that would make me better – Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

I thought, ‘that’s it. That’s what I want to do’.”

Since then, Michael has written seven books and risen to become one of the world’s biggest names in his field. While still keen to make a difference, he believes that he reached his goal of influencing a million lives earlier this year and now no longer chases business, preferring to let clients come to him.

If there is one group he would love to coach, it would be Newcastle United, the football team he supports. “It’s so obvious to me what the problems are from the mental side of things,” he says.

The one thing he can guarantee is that whatever advice he passes on has been gained from his own – sometimes painful – life experience. “My big thing is walking the talk,” he says. “Now I never ever have a bad day. I might have a bad half hour but then I think, ‘how can I fix this? What can I do to make it better?’.”

  • How to Be Brilliant: Change Your Ways In 90 Days by Michael Heppell (Pearson, £12.99) michaelheppell.com

Three simple ways to be brilliant

1. Take some action
Don’t procrastinate. Successful people get things wrong but aren’t held back by indecision.
2. Ask for help
This is not a sign of weakness. People will be only too willing to help you achieve your goals.
3. Be clear about the outcome
What does success look and feel like?