Keswin Academy

We're running our monthly online Cup Full of Happiness Hours again with Deb Donnell. If you'd like to attend you can register for free at https://keswin.academy/happiness-hour-invitation/

Every third Thursday (10 am NZT) of the month our editor Deb Donnell holds a Cup Full of Happiness online. It's live and interactive*. You can register for free and join in a monthly dose of joy at https://keswin.academy/happiness-hour-invitation/

*Interaction is generally via a chat Q&A. However if numbers attending permit it, the Q&A portion may be mic and videos on rather than via the chat.

Potentials Quarterly Magazine is co-published by us and Keswin Publishing Ltd, with our Founder Deb Donnell at the editorial helm. Here's some background to this new magazine and why it's being published.

Thank you for following my new page 😀

For the past seven months I've been working hard on putting together the first issue of this magazine. I actually applied for the ISSN from the National Library of New Zealand just before Christmas 2025, with the intention of getting the first issue out by April 2nd (I would have been a fool to release it on the 1st, right? 😜 ). The National Library emailed in May wondering why I hadn't submitted the first issue to their Legal Deposit department. Talk about accountability 🫣

I told them it was only half baked at that stage and pushed the goal post out to July... and then I had a family medical emergency, followed by software issues which corrupted my file and I lost 2+ weeks worth of work 😭😭 I started wondering if I was really meant to publish this magazine. Maybe my higher self wanted me to do something else, although I have no clue what because in my heart I know this is part of my life mission.

So I was determined to not give up, especially as I was so close to the finish line. Like any hero facing a challenging journey I continued onwards, and here we are, 2 days away from the great unveiling, on the verge of "opening the virtual doors" of my new magazine 😀

Things to note: zero AI has been used in the writing, editing, design, or publication on the magazine. I refuse to use AI or the Cloud as basically you are putting your intellectual property and creative gifts, talents, and attributes into the hands of 3rd parties, and signing away your rights to it hidden in the small print. You'll learn more about how to protect your IP, data, privacy, etc in the first and future issues as my partner and I have a very "autonomy must be retained" attitude about technology, and other areas of life.

Potentials Quarterly is mostly my own "blood sweat and tears" (creative work). I have had a little help from a few friends with some of the articles (thank you Drs Randall and Sarah Farrant, Lisa Murray, Aaron McLoughlin, Alan Fayter and Eric), as I didn't want this to be "all about me". In fact, I am hoping that when you read it, you'll find plenty to inspire you to make it "all about you."

The vision of the magazine is very personal growth and self reliance focused. Articles range from NLP (Neuro Linguistics Programming) and Neurosemantics (branches of self-actualisation psychology), to health and nutrition, to building self-reliance at home and with technology.

This first issue is jam packed with articles and has zero advertising... apart from promoting my other business endeavours, and those of the friends who have given me permission to include their articles 🙂 I'm selling advertising from issue 2 onwards to help cover costs and keep future cover prices down. Issue 1 will not be available in retail stores but hopefully future issues will be. You will be able to purchase issue 1 online from Keswin Publishing Ltd and Keswin Academy 's websites, as a downloadable pdf and/or viewable as a 3D flipbook in a member login area. I am also looking at doing a limited print run if there's enough demand.

Some background: The idea of this magazine possibly began when I was 9 or 10 years old! I had a penpal who lived near Bristol in the UK. My letters to her often included "Deb's Delightfully Dumb Puzzles" 🙃 which was a small magazine with info about Christchurch and maybe a poem or short story and a few puzzles. I had fun putting each issue together and there was only ever one copy printed eah time as it was all done by hand. I doubt she kept any, but who knows? They'll either be cringy or collectibles!

Fast forward to my early 20s; I ended up living near her, and working in publishing. I loved that job! And was determined to one day own my own publishing company; a dream I achieved in 2013 with my Christchurch earthquake related books.

Between 2021 and 2023, I worked with regional and local coordinators of a grassroots freedom organisation to publish an award winning digital newsletter to our 4,000+ membership base. It was fun (and a lot of work). I was reminiscing about it yesterday with the former regional coordinator who worked closely with me on each issue. We did 23 issues in total and we always got positive feedback from members.

From those two serial publications comes Potentials Quarterly. Personal growth, self reliance and freedom focused. I'm hoping you will find the articles inspiring and empowering.

Thanks for taking time to read this lengthy post, and feel free to like, share, and comment below.

May you have a day full of sunshine, curiosity, joy, and surprises 🌞

Deb Donnell, Potentials Quarterly Editor

Very apt reminder!

Jim Rohn had a way of destroying your best excuses with a single sentence.

"You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great."

I've met thousands of people who were waiting. Waiting until they had more money. More experience. More confidence. More time. More education. More connections.

Jim would listen patiently. Then he'd say: "How long has this been your plan? And how's it working?"

Here's the truth about entrepreneurship — about any kind of greatness, really: nobody starts great. Jim wasn't great at 25. He was broke, confused, and frustrated. But he started anyway.

He started reading. He started learning. He started showing up differently. And the greatness came — not before the starting, but because of it.

The people who build extraordinary things aren't the ones who waited until conditions were perfect. They're the ones who started when conditions were terrible and figured it out along the way.

What are you waiting to start? And what would happen if you started today?

www.jimrohn.com

Something new is coming! Potentials Quarterly, published by our sibling company Keswin Publishing Ltd, and edited by our Founder Deb Donnell

This is a "home" printed hard copy of the first issue of Potentials Quarterly. We were planning on doing a digital issue only (pdf download or online 3D flipbook). However we are exploring costs to print in New Zealand and limited run (making it a collector's item 😉).

A collectible print first edition would obviously have a higher sale price + shipping, as this first issue has no paid advertising in it (meaning all our costs need to be covered by magazine sales).

Is a print option something you'd prefer to digital?

Please comment below, and like and share our page. Thanks!

This is exciting 🙌 We are counting down the days to the release of Potentials Quarterly which is also part of our Membership Academy. Subscribe now to our newsletter and get early access to Potentials Quarterly. Go to https://keswin.academy/ and scroll down the page to fill in the newsletter subscription form.

The first issue of my new magazine, Potentials Quarterly is in the final stages of production. Official release date is 1 July but my newsletter subscribers will get access earlier. Visit https://keswin.academy/ and scroll down the page fr the newsletter subscription form.

We run monthly Cup Full of Happiness Hours. If you'd like to know when the next one is, comment "Happy Hour"

"Happiness is not an accident. Nor is it something you wish for. Happiness is something you design." — Jim Rohn

Most people wait for happiness to find them. The successful ones build it — deliberately, daily, by design.

It's built in the morning when you choose gratitude over complaint. It's built in the afternoon when you do the work instead of making excuses. It's built in the evening when you reflect on progress instead of perfection.

Stop wishing. Start designing.

Very true. And in light of this wisdom, we have some exciting news to share in the next few days... until then, keep working on your dreams

How long should you try? Until.

Persistence is not about intensity.
It’s about commitment over time.

— Jim Rohn