Gianluca Gibbons found himself standing on a TEDx stage in California late last month — one of only eight speakers selected from a pool of more than 600 applicants.

What got him there was How to Hijack Reality, his debut title that reached bestseller status on Amazon even before its release last month.

Like the TED talk, the book lays out how people can use their imagination to shape life to their advantage. If you think it’s just another misguided guide to transformation, Gianluca says you’re wrong.

He’d found success as a musician, speaker and entrepreneur. A side venture, Sydney Palmer, was thriving — helping businesses and individuals turn their dreams into reality. Yet last year, sitting alone in his cousin’s basement, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.

“For some reason I didn’t feel like I was living in my purpose. I felt disconnected from my sense of calling,” the first-time author said.

He decided to let his imagination lead the way, switching focus to “everything I've journaled about, everything I've reflected on”.

“I cut ties with all other businesses that I was associated with, went full-time with Sydney Palmer in January and, true to the thesis of my book, I hijacked reality. Obviously I have strategic alliances, but at the end of the day, it's just me.”

How to Hijack Reality: A Divine Appointment with Endless Possibilities has received a ton of buzz since its release.

The description on hijackreality.com and Amazon.com likely helped:

“What if the limits you see aren’t real? How to Hijack Reality invites you to step beyond external constraints and uncover endless possibilities within yourself,” it reads.

“Gianluca Gibbons shares a transformative journey through vivid storytelling and profound insights, drawing from his travels to 16 countries, life’s highs and lows, and encounters with unconventional mentors.

“Along the way, he reveals how you can shape your world from the inside out. This is not your typical self-help book.”

Only by allowing himself time alone in his cousin’s basement did Gianluca realise that to teach others, he first had to rewrite his own reality. It wasn’t as frightening as he’d imagined.

“What was scarier was I was holding on to all these things that were demanding my time, and I still didn't feel connected to my purpose. Imagine working 10, 12, 15-hour days and at the end of it, you still feel this void. If I'm giving all this out to other things, and I feel that I'm still absent in all of it, that's terrifying.”

For change to happen there needn’t be “a massive leap”, he added.

“It's really a challenge of perception. The first thing that needs to change is how you view reality. Is reality based on what your boss says?

“Is it based on what your parents tell you? Or on what your professors say is the best route for your career? Or have you taken time to cultivate what you desire most?

“Have you spent time in your imagination building that world in reality, and do you feel convicted enough to take the next step — to project that reality onto the perceived world?

“For everybody, that action is different. It doesn't have to be drastic, like: let me quit my job and move.”

At Sydney Palmer other people’s imaginations come to life with the help of a team of experts in the fields of business strategy, public relations, social media, book publishing and media production.

“The first thing I try to find out is, what's your story, why are you doing this? What imagination do you have that's driving you to bring this company to life? Who does it benefit? I try to understand their imagination as much as possible,” Gianluca said.

“Once we capture it, we write that imagination and that becomes the nucleus for any business and brand strategy we create.

“The motto is, we tell stories for a living, so our dreams can live for ever.”

The idea of reimagining one’s reality resonated even more strongly during the pandemic, Gianluca said.

“The pandemic put a lot of people in their own basement experience — they just sat with themselves and things that they didn't consider, things that they didn't look at, were then right in their face.

“They couldn't escape it. Some people found love, some people got divorced, some people changed their career, some people changed their whole approach to life — some people didn't make it out.”

The experience, he believes, made people more receptive to his message.

“They realised the world could stop, but life didn’t. In the pandemic, some people changed their life for the better and others for the worse.

“They were handed the same scenario, what determined their reality? I think that pushes people to the question ‘Where does reality really start?’ And once you find out that answer, how are you able to take control of your own?” Gianluca said.

“I think it's a very, very relevant conversation. And if somebody can guide you, or give you a suggestion about how you may be able to hijack or take control of your reality, I think for those that are interested in having some level of autonomy over how that plays out, they'd be interested in the subject matter.”

Despite that, he knows there will be those who think he’s just talking about building castles in the air.

To them, he points to the findings of Daniel Schacter, an American psychologist, author and professor at Harvard University.

“It’s not just daydreaming — it works. It’s backed by science. Daniel Schacter found that when you imagine future events, the same brain regions activate as when you recall memories.

“In other words, in the brain, it’s just as real. The same imagination you used to play with Barbies or build Legos as a kid is the same mechanism you use to reshape perception, navigate stress, and turn limitation into liberation.

“That’s the beauty of hijacking reality — a life where reality begins in your imagination.”

• How to Hijack Reality: A Divine Appointment with Endless Possibilities is available on Amazon.com and www.hijackreality.com. For more on Sydney Palmer, visit sydneypalmer.co